Micro productive chains and the nanoeconomy: rethinking decent work

Abstract

The expression "a decent job for a decent pay" was an important part of the trades union struggles during much of the twentieth century for proper working conditions, a fair salary and dignity in the workplace. The same expression (decent work) was recently adopted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) as part of its campaign for improved working conditions. Nobody would dispute the importance of improving working conditions for those in employment. But what are the struggles of those many other "invisible" people who work in the immense day to day of informal practices, in the attempts to create more collective economic alternatives, or to have their products accepted in settings of perverse economic relations? If the great majority of theories of work elaborated in the twentieth century focus, as a basic assumption, formal salaried employment, what are the concepts, practices and theories that could support and give direction to the actions of those people and their collective organizations who seek another possibility of development using everyday opportunities and a more collective understanding of citizenship? What is "decent work" in the world of micro-productive chains and the nanoeconomy?