“Earning Money as the Wheels Turn Around”: Cycle-rickshaw Drivers and Wageless Work in Dhaka

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the working lives of cycle-rickshaw drivers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It highlights the significance of unwaged rickshaw labour in enabling rural-urban migrants to navigate ecological and financial emergencies. The chapter argues that while hardly a safe or secure mode of work, the rickshaw industry nonetheless constitutes a relatively stable site of return when other labour projects fail. The importance of the rickshaw industry as a safety net for some drivers is increasingly undermined by the implementation of government licensing and mobility restrictions in Dhaka city. In analysing these restrictions, the chapter contests the idea that informal work is always already inherently precarious. Instead, it highlights how politics and policy interventions impact work-lives and make informal work precarious.