SEPTEMBER 2018

SPAIN
Valencia looking to set up a co-op for hawkers
p Street traders outside Valencia Cathedral
A local council in Valencia, Spain,
is proposing to set up a co-operative
enterprise for street vendors.
Suggested by the city’s department of
co-operation, development and migration,
the project aims to help hawkers integrate
into the formal economy and gain access
to social services while paying tax.
In a draft policy on immigration, Neus
Fábregas, who leads the department,
also suggested allocating a specific space
where the street vendors, mostly from
Senegal, can sell their products.
Valencia has, on average, around 400
hawkers who sell a range of goods on the
city’s streets. The act is illegal and those
caught can receive fines of up to €300 and
have their products confiscated by the
police. The new plan would only involve
those who sell genuine products not
counterfeit items.
In an interview for local media
outlet Las Provincias, Ms Fábregas
explained that many street vendors are
simply looking to earn a living, just like
those who are selling items in shops
across the city.
“The initiative to establish a
co-operative for street vendors is a
measure that appears in the Municipal
Migration Plan, which is in the process
of being approved. Once approved in the
p The local authority hopes it will promote inclusion for street vendors
plenary of the City Council of Valencia,
we will begin to work on the various
measures that appear in it. One of them,
setting up a co-operative, will be a project
that we will do next in collaboration with
our employment department,” said a
council spokesperson.
Valencia is following the example
of Barcelona, where last year the local
council helped to set up Diomcoop, a co-op
for street vendors. This has s 15 members
who provide a range of services, including
catering, surveillance and maintenance.
The co-op, whose members are all from
Senegal, is also now producing clothing
items under the brand and in May they
held their first fashion show.
According to the International Labour
Organization (ILO), workers in the
informal economy are mostly involved
in micro and small enterprises and tend
to have no formal recognition. The ILO
identifies co-operatives as key tools in
transforming marginal survival activities
into legally protected work, fully
integrated into the mainstream economy.
A recent report by the UN body shows
that two billion people, more than 61% of
the world’s employed population, make
their living in the informal economy.
In Europe, 25.1% of employment
is informal.
20 | SEPTEMBER 2018