Whither African Trade Union Movement? Lessons for Restitution and Reform

In Africa, the intricate nexus of colonialism, post-colonialism and unfettered capitalism has been the stimulus for trade unions to broaden the scope of their struggles beyond the shop floor to embrace liberation, democracy, promotion of economic development, social reconstruction and justice in the current neo-liberal world order. Evidence now points to the fact that trade union organisation in Africa is fragile at the national, regional and continental levels and primarily limited to the minority formal working sector with the vast majority informal workers unrepresented. Historically, among the social justice organisations, trade unions are frequently the ones with the greatest potential for mobilisation and perhaps the most enduring ones with visible legitimate national structures, ideological clarity and defined membership. However, this potential to shape the political and socio-economic reforms that can spur job-enriching growth has not been fully realised in Africa owing to several factors driven by the neo-liberal onslaught. In view of the continuously changing underlying conditions in the African labour markets; frail union structures and their representativeness; limited organisational abilities; questioned solidarity; imperfect social dialogue structures, the political intervention by trade unions to inspire structural transformation still remains a daunting challenge. This paper provides a critical overview of these challenging times based on desk research largely drawn from literature review and documentation on trade union development in Africa. The paper examines the state of trade unions, their organisational state, internal capacity, membership growth, campaigns and programmes essential for their strategic survival. The key national centres and their relationship with continental trade union bodies such as International Trade Union (ITUC)-Africa and Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) are critically discussed. The influence of Global Union Federations (GUFs) and their links with ITUC and OATUU as well as national centres is also discussed and lessons drawn. Several recommendations for the strategic renewal of trade unions are presented.