1. Background information
Ghana, formerly a British colony called the Gold Coast, attained independence in 1957. It is a small low-income country in West
Africa with a population of about 18 million (1997) and a land area of 228,000 sq.kilometres. It had a Gross National Product (GNP)
of $6.6 billion in 1997 and a per capita GNP of $370 the same year.
The political history of the country since independence has been dominated by frequent military interventions in government, with
successful military coups in 1966, 1972, 1979 and 1981, a palace coup in 1978, and numerous unsuccessful attempts to overthrow
the government, whether it was in civilian or military hands. Political instability has been the principal cause of the deteriorating
economic fortunes of the country, which was considered a middle-income country at the time of independence, and had a standard of
living which was high for an African country. The past two decades have seen a reasonable measure of political stability. The
military regime, which took power at the end of 1981, managed to continue in government despite some challenges. After elections
in 1992, it transformed itself into a constitutional regime.
Data on the labour market in Ghana has traditionally been characterized by its paucity and unreliability. The Statistics and Research
Division of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare has recently attempted to remedy this situation, and the discussion in
this paper is based mainly on its Key Indicators of the Ghanaian Labour Market.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing provide about 60 per cent of total employment; retail trade is the second most important source,
accounting for 21 per cent of total employment. Manufacturing provides about 5 per cent of total employment; the service industries
10.2 per cent; and construction 2 per cent of total employment. Transport/communications/utilities provide 1.7 per cent of total
employment; mining 0.3 per cent; finance /insurance/ real estate 0.3 per cent; and wholesale trade accounts for 0.5 per cent of total
employment.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana was formally inaugurated in 1945 when the existing 14 unions registered under the
Trades Union Ordinance of 1941 came together under a central coordinating body. Associations of workers for mutual protection had
existed in the Gold Coast from about the 1920s, but organized trade union activity is usually dated from 1941 when the Trades Union
Ordinance provided for the registration of unions, which could be formed by any five workers. The 1941 Ordinance, however, did
not confer bargaining rights on the unions. Employers could agree or refuse to negotiate with their employees.
Four years after the formation of the Trades Union Congress, a militant nationalist party, the Conventions Peoples Party (CPP) was
formed. The CPP was devoted to seeking immediate self-government, and the ending of colonial rule in the Gold Coast. The party
courted organized labour, many union leaders were active in the party, and there appeared to be some coordination of activities
between the party and the unions. Thus although a general strike called by the Congress in 1950 was ostensibly to protest against
dismissals in the Meteorological Department, the demands made by the workers included a call for the immediate grant of Dominion
Status to the Gold Coast; and a day after the outbreak of the strike, the CPP decided to embark on a "positive action" campaign for
immediate self-government.
The collaboration between the Congress and the CPP appeared to pay off when the party led the country to independence in 1957. A
year after independence, the CPP-led government introduced the Industrial Relations Act of 1958 (Act 56) designed to strengthen
trade unions in Ghana. The 1958 Industrial Relations Act gave legal backing to trade unions for the first time. It gave legal
recognition to the Trades Union Congress as a corporate body. It made collective bargaining compulsory, and the provisions of
collective bargaining agreements legally binding on employers and workers. It gave legal backing to the check-off system under
which trade unions dues were deducted at source. An amendment in 1959 made it impossible for any union to stay outside the TUC's
new structure. The CPP government also passed the Civil Service Act and the Civil Service Interim Regulations of 1960 which had
the effect of making trade union membership compulsory for all civil servants. This was intended, among other things, to strengthen
the financial standing of the TUC. In 1958 the government provided the TUC with the building which houses its Headquarters as a
"tribute to the contribution that Ghana labour has made in our struggle for liberation."
The Industrial Relations Act of 1958 was replaced by the Industrial Relations Act of 1965 which remains the principal instrument
governing industrial relations in Ghana. [A new Labour Code has been prepared but yet to be enacted.] The 1965 Act echoed the
1958 Act, including the provision making the TUC the sole representative of the trade union movement in Ghana. This monopoly
status has been criticized as contravening ILO Convention No. 87, and the country's constitution. The proposed new Code seeks to
make changes in this area.
Collaboration between the TUC and the CPP government did not only produce benefits for the labour movement; it also entailed
costs in terms of a loss of independence. From about 1959 onwards, the CPP regarded the TUC as a wing of the party and felt free to
interfere in union matters in several ways, including making appointments to leadership positions in the TUC. This generated
resentment among some unionists, and the difficult economic situation in the mid-1960s turned many rank-and-file workers against
the government. When the CPP government was overthrown by the military in 1966, many workers welcomed the change. The
arrival of Ghana's first military regime, however, represented a setback to the TUC in some respects. Some of its leaders were
arrested and held in custody for a while, and the new government, the National Liberation Council (NLC), repealed section 24 of the
Civil Service Act of 1960, which made trade union membership compulsory for civil servants. This naturally led to a loss of
membership. Membership in the Public Services Workers Union fell from 40,000 in January 1967 to 26,000 by June 1968
(Arthiabah and Mbiah, 1995). The NLC also implemented an IMF-supported stabilization programme which involved the
retrenchment of an estimated 60,000 workers in state-owned enterprises over the period 1966-67. These developments adversely
affected the financial position of the TUC.
The TUC was to suffer an even more serious setback with the return to civilian rule in 1969. The party which won the 1969 elections
had been in opposition to the CPP before and after independence. It was not known to be a natural ally of workers and their unions.
Indeed the claim was made that many of the party's leaders had "a class-based disdain for union leaders". There was soon to be
cause for confrontation between the government and the TUC. At the third biennial congress of the TUC held in August 1970, a
resolution was passed calling for a 100 per cent increase in the minimum wage (from C 0.75 to C 1.50). The request was turned
down by the government as unreasonable and potentially inflationary. Given the initial mutual suspicions, and fearing that a national
strike might be called to support the demand for an increase in the minimum wage, the government decided to strike first at the TUC.
On 13 September 1971, under a certificate of urgency, Parliament passed the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 1971 (Act 383)
to replace the Industrial Relations Act 1965 (Act 229). The new Act dissolved the TUC with immediate effect and empowered the
government to appoint a board of receivers to dispose of all the properties of the TUC.
The government argued that the TUC as set up by the Industrial Relations Act of 1965 was undemocratic and an infringement on the
rights of workers to associate freely. The new Act, therefore, in addition to dissolving the TUC provided that: "Any group of trade
unions shall have the right to constitute themselves into any association, federation, confederation or congress of trade unions for the
attainment of their common aims." There can be no doubt that the primary motivation for introducing the Industrial Relations Act of
1971 was to disorganize and weaken the labour movement. However, the government was able to claim that the Act of 1971 was for
the "purposes of protecting the rights or freedoms of other persons in terms of the spirit of the constitution". This claim was justified
by the legitimate criticism of the monopoly status conferred on the TUC by the 1965 Act.
The military took power again only four months after Act 383 was passed. The new rulers who came into power in January 1972
promulgated the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Decree of 1972, which repealed the 1971 Act and restored the Industrial
Relations Act of 1965 and the TUC.
2. Current structure of the trade union movement
The Industrial Relations Act 1965 (Act 229) recognizes the TUC as the sole representative of the trade union movement in Ghana.
Section 3 of Act 229 requires that any union wishing to apply for a collective bargaining certificate from the Registrar of Trade
Unions has to apply through the TUC. The TUC has 17 national unions organized along industrial lines. These and their declared
membership are:
