Working Peoples’ Coalition- a network of more than 150 provincial, local organizations of informal workers, was founded in 2013 to fulfil this vacuum. The Charter believes in the capacity building of network members. This will help the members’ wage struggles at the provincial and national levels. The capacity building includes an understanding of laws pertaining to informal workers, including the proposed bills on wage, industrial relations, occupational health and safety and social security in the legislature. Currently, there is no such platform existing in India voicing collective concerns of informal workers. This positioning of being the first and the only network at the national level gives it a competitive advantage.
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us the opportunity to finish the unfinished agenda of entitlements and advancement of the informal workers. Portable identity across state borders along with universal social protection including living wages, pension, maternity, health entitlements, and unemployment allowance are urgent needs of the hour. In the absence of this, the current state of informal workers in India looks bleak. Absence of urgent economic support will only further their already existing vulnerabilities, marginalization, and exploitation. They will continue to be treated as disposable and stateless persons.
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