Life With Rights: Inclusive Labour Law and Decent Work for Wastepickers in Brazil

Abstract

This paper focuses on the labour-environment nexus from the perspective of developing countries, using the case of one of the most vulnerable groups of workers, namely, wastepickers in Brazil. For labour law, the case of wastepickers reveals the limits and potential of labour law to include informal workers, especially poor informal workers from the Global South. We argue that labour rights are essential for these workers even though their work does not fit in the description of an employment relationship. Labour law needs to expand epistemologically to capture different workers and influence the distinct dimensions of their lives. For this expansion of the law to become effective, labour rights and the promotion of collective organization must be recognized within a framework of coordinated policy reforms across labour, environment, and other areas of social policy. Wastepickers, Informality, Decent Work, Inclusive Labour Law