Conference on Organized labour
Responses to the Conference Paper
George Martens
ICFTU Brussels
3 September 1998
I would like to outline my current research interests which appear to parallel the basic issues raised by the IILS programme. While no longer living in Africa where I conducted trade union programmes for 14 years, I continue to closely follow events on the continent at the ICFTU and to write on trade unionism and industrial relations, especially concerning the French-speaking countries. I am currently working on a study of the current and potential relationship of African trade unions to other elements of national civil society. In my view, to fully appreciate organized labour's role today it is essential to trace the historic process of trade union evolution from the post-war origins where they served as a force for ending colonialism through the several post-independence decades when virtually all labour organizations were profoundly weakened by domination by monopoly political parties and on to the current phase characterised by economic upheaval and the gradual emergence of a more broadly based civil society. There has been a parallel evolution of industrial relations systems also directly influenced by a complex mixture of social, economic and political pressures.
Such analysis presents an occasion to evaluate the current status of African trade unionism. Are the unions developing new capabilities able to cope with radically changing environments which will allow them to survive into the next century? What can be learned from the experience of the past fifty years? Are new forms of industrial relations possible? If so, how can they be encouraged? Can trade unions become the catalyst for a newly emerging civil society and promote democracy and social justice?
These questions serve as a framework for an in-depth analysis of trends shaping Africa's trade unions. Workers' organizations are experiencing successes such as the attempts in several countries to negotiate comprehensive social pacts and in promoting multi-party systems. There are also failures as seen in the undermining of trade union rights in labour legislation 'reforms' imposed as an element of economic restructuring programmes. I prepared specific a study concerning this phenomena for the ICFTU two years ago. Attempts in some unions to organize the burgeoning informal sector could, if effective, transform socio-political structures in many countries.
The current IILS programme on 'Organized Labour in the 21
st
Century," I feel should make an effort to integrate as wide a range of factors in developing a comprehensive evaluation of what is likely to happen in future years.
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