Sindicato Popular de Vendedores Ambulantes

In 2015, the community of street vendors in Barcelona, mostly undocumented west-African immigrants, banded together to unionise, forming the Sindicato Popular de Vendedores Ambulantes.^[5][6]

In 2017, the union launched its own fashion brand, named Top Manta. Its logo was based on both the shape of a blanket, as many manteros lay their wares on blankets, and the shape of a canoe, meant to symbolise the way many of the union's members arrived in Spain.^[7]

The union participated in the Food Sovereignty and Small Scale Fisheries Encounter in Barcelona in June 2019.^[8]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, the union organised a network to distribute food and necessities to vulnerable families. The union transformed parts of its Top Manta clothing store into a workshop to make face masks and PPE.^[9] However, the union faced attacks from police, with the Guàrdia Urbana de Barcelona threatening anti-racist mutual aid groups with fines up 60 000 €.^[10] The pandemic also posed significant difficulties for street vendors, as they were ineligible for social benefits and unable to gain income from selling due to quarantine measures.^[11]

In February 2021, the union received a £7500 grant from Black Lives Matter UK, among the first organisations to be granted.^[12] In March 2021, Serigne Mbayé, the spokesperson of the union's Madrid branch, announced that he would be running in the 2021 Madrilenian regional election under the Unidas Podemos banner.^[13][14]

• Official website