The Informal Majority: Why Africa’s Gig Workers Need Urgent Protection Now

Introduction: Beyond the Margins;The Workers Who Keep Africa Running

Across Africa, nearly 85% of workers operate within the informal economy. They are street vendors, domestic workers, boda boda(motor cycle) riders , waste pickers, hairdressers, and digital freelancers. They form the economic backbone of the continent, but they work without contracts, social protection, or safety nets. When disasters strike; be it a pandemic, a climate shock, or inflation, they are the first to suffer and the last to recover.

In May 2025, the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) issued a powerful call to  end the systemic exploitation of informal workers. Based in Accra, Ghana, and representing national trade union centres from over 50 African countries, OATUU is one of the continent’s oldest and most influential labour institutions. It emerged in 1973 with a Pan-African vision; one committed not just to workers’ rights, but to African self-determination, unity, and economic justice.

Now, five decades later, OATUU is putting informal workers front and centre in the fight for labour dignity.

Exploited, Excluded, Essential: The Paradox of Informal Work

Informal work, which refers to employment that is not regulated by the state and typically lacks social protection, job security, and formal contracts, accounts for the vast majority of employment in Africa. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), over 85% of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa is informal. This includes women and youth, disproportionately represented in precarious and underpaid roles with no recourse when abused.

OATUU Secretary General Arezki Mezhoud stated that development or democracy could not be truly discussed while millions of workers continued to wake up each day merely to survive in unregulated, unsafe, and unprotected jobs. 

He emphasized that the future of Africa must include protections for those already contributing the most to its economies. He added that these workers were not outside the system; they were the system, yet they were governed by laws that ignored them, policies that excluded them, and platforms that exploited them under the guise of “entrepreneurship.”

In Nigeria, app-based delivery drivers earn less than $2/hour (KES 258.40) and can be deactivated without explanation. In Uganda, women domestic workers report sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and wage theft, with no mechanisms for redress. In South Africa, waste pickers are responsible for over 80% of the country’s recycling but are denied access to health insurance, maternity leave, or formal recognition.

From Precarity to Power: What OATUU Is Demanding

OATUU is calling on African governments to do more than talk. It has outlined a set of actionable demands:

• Transition informal work to formal work: through legal reforms, recognition of informal workers’ associations, and targeted social protection policies.
  

• Invest in social infrastructure: including affordable housing, childcare, health services, and transport so informal workers are not punished for being poor.

• Ratify and implement ILO conventions: especially those related to occupational safety and health (OSH) and social protection floors.

• Create inclusive national labour strategies: that involve trade unions, women’s groups, youth movements, and informal sector leaders in policymaking.
  

This is not charity, it is justice. These are the same demands echoed by Kituo cha Sheria in Kenya, StreetNet International across the continent, and the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF).

Continental Struggles, Shared Lessons

OATUU’s stance mirrors a growing push across Africa to include informal workers in national development agendas.

In Kenya, the 2024 Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy is validating skills learned outside formal education, giving mechanics, tailors, and masons access to certification and training.

In Ghana, the Informal Workers’ Alliance has negotiated access to social insurance schemes and market infrastructure with local governments.

In South Africa, movements like the Casual Workers Advice Office and SA Waste Pickers Association are fighting for inclusion in green economy plans and municipal waste management budgets.

These actions demonstrate that organising is possible in the informal sector; but governments must stop criminalising survival and start recognising labour.

Conclusion: It’s Time to Stop Calling Informal Workers “Vulnerable”; They Are Powerful

The struggle for informal workers is not about pity. It’s about power. These are not “beneficiaries” of development, they are its architects. If African leaders are serious about meeting Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, they must deliver labour rights, not just job numbers.

As OATUU makes clear, Africa’s future cannot be built on precarious work. The time for piecemeal reforms is over. What is needed is a structural shift; a new labour movement that includes the hawker, the gig worker, the domestic helper, and the market trader.

Let 2025 be the year recognition turns into regulation, and regulation into rights.

References

1. Guardian Nigeria. (2025, May 2). OATUU decries exploitation of informal sector workers. Link

2. Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU). Link

3. International Labour Organization (ILO). (2022). Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture. Link

4. Kenya Ministry of Labour (2024). Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Framework.

5. International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). (2023). Global Survey on Domestic Workers' Rights. Link