The majority of undocumented migrants arriving in Spain end up working as farm labourers, scrap dealers or street vendors.
“None of these are easy,” says Lamine Sarr, a former street vendor, who co-founded the Barcelona Street Vendors’ Popular Union (Sindicato Popular de Vendedores Ambulantes) to support migrants in 2015.
“The problems the vendors have is to find work. If they come here without documents they cannot get employed, so informal work is the only option,” Sarr adds. “Without a work contract they cannot acquire a home. And then they cannot acquire work without an address. And they cannot contribute to the social security system.”
In 2017 the union set up Top Manta, a co-op that sells clothes, accessories and sportswear made by migrants. In doing so, it aims to improve the living conditions of the vendors and take them off the streets. Getting started was difficult, particularly due to the lack of access to capital but the co-op was able to raise €77,000 to launch its clothing brand through a crowdfunding campaign.
Read the rest at Co-operative News
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