Trade Unionism in Burkina Faso

This article analyses trade unionism in Burkina Faso, focusing on the period from the late 1980s until today. Four historical phases are identified: (1) democratisation struggles from the late 1980s until the late 1990s; (2) demands for human and civil rights from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s; (3) demands related to the food and fuel price crisis in the late 2000s; and (4) recent protests resulting in the removal of Blaise Compaoré from the presidency on 30 October 2014. This article shows that the trade unions' demands and the way they were framed have depended on the political structures in place. At the same time, the protests have always created new opportunities for contentious collective action, thus paving the way for the phase to follow. The case study is based on interviews conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2015, and on documents from the period 2008?2015.