EXTENDING PROTECTION TO VULNERABLE INFORMAL ECONOMY WORKERS A

EXTENDING PROTECTION TO VULNERABLE INFORMAL ECONOMY WORKERS: A HUMAN RIGHTS PARADIGM 2020 DR ES FOURIE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

Conceptual Framework • Informal Economy • Protection – Labour and Social Protection – Wide scope – Exclusion from labour protection – Outside scope - definition

Vulnerability in the Informal Economy • Women more vulnerable

Labour Law and Human Rights • • Future of labour law Internationally and regionally Human dignity Fundamental rights: human dignity, right to fair labour practices, socio economic rights, protection of ethnic religious and linguistic minorities – decent work. • Women workers –substantive equality

Case Law • Makwickana v e. Thekwini Municipality 2015 3 SA 165 (KZD) – a group in a poverty-stricken socioeconomic class to challenge the validity of laws and practices prevailing in the informal trade sector.

Case Law • South African Informal Traders Forum v City of Johannesburg 2014 ZACC 8 • When women and men in government disregard the law, their conduct may very well cause much hardship, particularly for the vulnerable amongst us.

South African Informal Traders Forum v City of Johannesburg • It must be added that the eviction of traders involved constitutional issues of considerable significance. The ability of people to earn money and support themselves and their families is an important part of human dignity. Without it they faced "humiliation and degradation". Most traders, we were told, have dependants. Many of these dependants are children, who also have suffered hardship as the City denied their breadwinners’ lawful entitlement to conduct their business. The City has not disputed this. The City’s conduct has a direct and ongoing bearing on the rights of children, including their direct rights to basic nutrition, shelter and basic health care services. The harm the traders were facing was immediate and irreversible.

Concluding Remarks • Labour law cannot function in isolation • Intrinsically linked to concepts