The Urban Action School (UAS) is a school for mid to senior level urban practitioners specialising in issues related to Urbanisation and Cities, related to India and the Global South. ICA-AP was invited to participate in the ongoing one-week residential course titled Women Workers in the Labour Movement.  The broad objective of the ongoing course is to examine in-depth, the key issues of women workers’ role and representation in the labour movement. Ms. Savitri Singh, Program Director, ICA-AP participated as a Discussant, in the session titled Women workers in Market oriented collectives.  She was accompanied by Ms. Lakshmi Narayan and Ms. More from SWaCH Cooperative, Pune and Mr. Agnelo Menezes from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. SWaCH Cooperative arose from the burning need to empower women who were working as rag pickers with minimal to non-existent rights. Before they were collectivised under the aegis of a co-operative, they had no access to a formal identity, they were regularly harassed by policemen who viewed them as ‘petty thieves’, and they had no claim on any of the benefits that accrue to those working in the formal sector.  SWaCH is a wholly worked-owned co-operative that has significantly improved the working conditions and livelihood status of the rag pickers.

Ms. Singh summarised the discussion about SWaCH while outlining the nitty-gritty of the co-operative model that focuses on ‘earning’ a profit, rather than ‘making’ profit. She highlighted the importance of women-led co-operatives, as well as the need for mainstreaming women in the existing co-operative eco-system, with specific attention on parity of wages. In an exclusive session later in the day, Ms. Singh informed the audience about ICA, its member network, and the work it undertakes on advocating the co-operative model, and building capacities of its membership.