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New forms of wage labour and struggle in the informal sector: the case of waste pickers in Turkey

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  • Demet Ş. Dinler

Abstract

In the absence of formal employment opportunities and with increasing urban and rural poverty, the informal recycling sector has become a means of survival for the past two decades in Turkey. In the capital city, Ankara, the large majority of waste pickers constitute former dispossessed Kurdish farmers who migrated to the city with their families from the southeastern regions as a result of forced migration, and seasonal Kurdish workers who alternate between rural and urban employment. The introduction of new waste management regulations in 2004 made the recycling market a significant area of struggle between local authorities, recycling companies and waste pickers. Local authorities have used these regulations to force waste pickers to sell their waste to certain recycling companies at a price lower than the market price. Waste pickers have reclaimed their right to work in the streets against the violence executed by the municipal police. This paper investigates the ways in which waste pickers should be considered wage labourers and what kind of a moral discourse they have used in making their demands vis-à-vis local governments during the process of intense conflict and negotiation.

Suggested Citation

  • Demet Ş. Dinler, 2016. "New forms of wage labour and struggle in the informal sector: the case of waste pickers in Turkey," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(10), pages 1834-1854, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:37:y:2016:i:10:p:1834-1854
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2016.1175934
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    Cited by:

    1. Helin Kardelen Kavuş & Yener Erköse & Değer Eryar, 2023. "Driving Green Job Opportunities in Sustainable Waste Management through Co-Production Strategies: Informal Recycling Workers, Municipalities, and the National Agenda—A Case Study of İzmir," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Marc Kalina & Ncebakazi Makwetu & Elizabeth Tilley, 2024. "“The rich will always be able to dispose of their waste”: a view from the frontlines of municipal failure in Makhanda, South Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 17759-17782, July.
    3. Pınar E Dönmez, 2021. "Against austerity and repression: Historical and contemporary manifestations of progressive politicisation in Turkey," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(3), pages 512-535, May.

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