Decent Work for All: Rethinking Decent Work in the Context of South Africa
The authors argue that there is a need to rethink what a commitment to decent work
would mean in the context of South Africa, a country with a large number of long
term unemployed. Drawing on their experience of researching work in South Africa,
they highlight the relevance of the agency of workers for the progressive realisation of
a decent work agenda. The lukewarm response of the government to the diagnostic
tool designed to measure decent work led the authors to reframe decent work in a
positive way as an organising tool to recruit vulnerable workers into a broader, more
inclusive movement of working people.
Keywords: decent work, South Africa, trade unions, ILO, informal work, critical engagement
