South Africa is considered the most unequal country in the world, with stagnant economic growth and staggeringly high unemployment. More than five million or 31.2% of workers in South Africa find economic opportunities in the “informal economy,” often because there are fewer barriers (training, skills, regulation) to entering the sector.
Informal workers comprise a diverse group who may work in the formal or informal economy. Precarity of employment is common among these workers, who include, for example, casual workers as well as owners of microbusinesses (such as street vending or Spaza shops). However, workers in temporary, part-time or on-call work arrangements may also fall within this category, depending on the circumstances.
Although often associated with tales of extraordinary entrepreneurship, informal workers experience challenging working conditions, which are exacerbated by the effects of climate change, including extreme weather and high temperatures.
As temperatures continue to rise, workplaces must adapt to protect the health of workers. However, informal workers enjoy fewer regulatory protections and their workplaces are particularly vulnerable to the impact of environmental events. Many, including motorcycle delivery drivers or agricultural workers, work outdoors and are exposed to high temperatures. This increases workers’ vulnerability to heat-related illnesses, such as heat stress.
South Africa has a diverse climate, which means that heat impacts each of the nine provinces (geographical areas) differently, as illustrated by a heatmap based on weather statistics for the period from October 2022 to March 2023.
The impact of high temperatures on informal workers is a shared reality across Africa. In South Africa, as the heatmap illustrates, the degree to which informal workers are affected varies depending on their workplace location. The actual impact of heat can be illustrated as follows: During January 2023, an agricultural worker in Vioolsdrif (Northern Cape) would have experienced hot days (temperatures exceeding 30°C [86°F]) on 29 out of 31 days, with the maximum temperature recorded at 46.9°C (116°F). During the same month, a street vendor in Cape Town (Western Cape) would have experienced six hot days with the highest maximum temperature recorded at 37.1°C (98.8°F).
While the first worker labors in a rural area that experiences the harsh effects of heat, the second is vulnerable to extreme weather events such as floods, even though the worker’s urban area is less exposed to heat. Two insights emerge from the example of these two informal workers.
First, rising temperatures exacerbate the heat-health vulnerabilities of informal workers, causing internal displacement and increased labor migration from neighboring countries into South Africa. This leads to urbanization, which intensifies competition for jobs in the context of already high unemployment.
Second, a context-specific response to heat health is needed to adequately manage the health vulnerabilities of informal workers.
South Africa ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016 and is committed to adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change. Its National Adaptation Plan recognizes the pivotal role of labor, including trade unions, in adaptation initiatives.
However, the health vulnerabilities of informal workers have not been adequately prioritized. Contrary to the argument that the informalization of work has eroded the possibility of the collective organization of workers, I contend that collective action driven by trade unions presents an opportunity to manage the impact of climate-related health risks on informal workers.
The challenge for trade unions is to effectively organize informal workers using the framework for collective bargaining in the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA). The Labour Court has recently indicated its acceptance of a “modern” trade union in Simunye Workers Forum v Registrar of Labour Relations and held that the Registrar of Labour must register Simunye Workers Forum as a trade union.
Pending the outcome of appeal heard by the Labour Appeal Court on August 15, 2024, registering Simunye Workers Forum as a trade union will depart from the traditional conception of a South African trade union as one representing standard, full time employees, to one that represents a diverse group of workers in both the formal and informal economy.
Herein lies the opportunity.
Registered trade unions may generate enforceable, collective agreements under the LRA. Relying on existing policy responses to climate change and occupational health and safety, trade unions can be instrumental in collective bargaining to facilitate the conclusion of collective agreements that protect and manage climate-related health risks.
Trade unions can also cooperate with other civil society organizations in strategic litigation aimed at advancing their members’ interests in managing such risks.
The changing world of work, technological advancements, and the climate crisis provide trade unions with a unique opportunity to organize informal workers — a growing sector in South Africa. Workers were instrumental in South Africa’s transition to democracy and Simunye is an example of the assertion of hard-fought labor rights.
Building on a history of labor movements, the climate crisis could be the catalyst to ignite a new trade union movement that stimulates collective bargaining and strategic litigation around the health vulnerabilities of informal workers, while advancing the implementation of South Africa’s commitment to promoting health in climate adaptation.