Abstract
Using qualitative methodologies, I conducted research with one group of vulnerable workers (whom I refer to as street rebuscadores) in Bogotá, to study how both State and non-State legal regimes interact to influence their productive strategies. Following a legal pluralist approach, I concluded that as a social group engaging in regulatory activities, street rebuscadores are situated in a semi- autonomous social field generating internal normative rules, but that is also vulnerable to rules from the larger social matrix in which it is situated. Within that semi-autonomous social field, the vulnerability of street rebuscadores is legally constructed and accentuated by the State, and existing regulatory frameworks are perpetuating and reproducing their condition, although not without resistance. In this paper, I will focus exclusively on labour law, to discuss a series of reasons that lead me to conclude that State labour law is unable to penetrate the semi- autonomous social field of street rebuscadores, and therefore, unable to protect those workers most in need.
Highlights
My doctoral dissertation is about street rebuscadores who are looking for a way to make a living and survive
I relied on the literature on legal pluralism (Fitzpatrick, 1984; Engle Merry, 1988; Griffiths, 1986; De Sousa Santos 1987, 2002, 2004, 2005, De Sousa Santos & Rodriguez, 2005; Teubner, 1997; Tamanaha, 2000 amongst others), and on the concept of the semi-autonomous social field developed by Sally Falk Moore (Moore, 1973, 2005)
My aim was to describe the effect of labour State law on the productive strategies of street rebuscadores in Bogotá
Summary
My doctoral dissertation is about street rebuscadores (street vendors, recyclers, street sex workers, etc.,) who are looking for a way to make a living and survive. This conversation shows power imbalance between the parties, but it illustrates that both Camilo and Carol lack the cultural and economic capital required to sue their employers even though they are paid half or less the minimum wage (and they both know that a minimum wage exists). As a matter of fact, if a street rebuscador is involved in a bilateral employment relationship, he/she can seek advice regarding employment issues at the Ministry of Labour (and no one will tell her that she is excluded) If she has enough information to get there, she will be sent to an ‘orientation meeting’ with a public official that will very likely discourage her to take legal action based on the ‘particularities’ of her case.
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