Conference on Organized labour
Responses to the Conference Paper
Hassan A. Sunmonu
Secretary-General, OATUU, Accra, Ghana.
21 January 1999
NETWORK ON ORGANIZED LABOUR IN THE 21
ST
CENTURY: A CONTRIBUTION
Challenges facing Trade Unions
1. Changing Patterns of Employment and Union Membership
- Trade unions are becoming increasingly aware of the changing patterns of employment, and are taking adequate steps to meet the very serious challenges posed by such developments. The rapidly declining spate of public sector employment and the continuous growth of the private sector have induced in most trade unions the tendency to depart from traditional approaches to organization, and to re-orientate their attention on the emerging demands of the labour market.
In recent times, most African trade unions have focussed their attention on redefining their objectives and policies to take account of the needs of workers with skills and careers that have hitherto received little recognition or been non-existent. Some research has been undertaken on the emerging demands of the labour market, with emphasis on needs assessment of existing and potential trade union membership. Based on these information, most trade unions have embarked on an "aggressive" membership drive with a view to unionising such workers.
- Informal sector workers and casual workers in particular have until recently remained outside of the purview of trade union organization. In most African countries, this trend has reversed considerably over the last decade.
Over the last decade or so, most trade unions have embarked on policy initiatives aimed at organizing informal sector workers. Within a broad framework, these policies border on identifying the various categories of workers in that sector, categorising them into sub-sectors, organizing them into independent trade associations and developing strategies to unionise them.
Organizing casual workers is still a difficult terrain for most trade unions because of the nature of their employment. Nonetheless, some trade unions have succeeded in organizing these workers through a number of strategies. Most unions begin by involving casual workers in their activities and assigning them responsibilities, and eventually work towards unionising them. Often, the membership criteria of casual workers is different from that of permanent workers, in that, whereas their membership to the union is perpetual, their membership obligations are subject to their employment status.
- Trade union representation is still purely collective. It might be necessary for trade unions to consider alternative ways of delivery of services to workers, such as on individual basis, but trade unions have resorted to individual representation only under circumstances where it is absolutely necessary.
Trade unions operate on the fundamental principle of workers solidarity, which is reinforced by collective rather that individual representation. Besides, most trade unions do not have the material and human resources needed to deal with workers as individuals.
- Trade unions often do not consider the diverse interests of their members as being competitive, in the sense that one has to be satisfied at the expense of the other. Trade unions recognise the fact that it is only natural that different categories of workers should have different interests, as such trade union policies, programmes and activities are always designed such as to cater for such interests no matter how diverse they may be.
With regard to the dichotomy between male and female workers, most trade unions have set up women departments at the levels of the national centres and their affiliates to cater for the specific needs of women workers, without compromising the interests of male workers. Most trade unions have also established special quotas for women representation in trade union structures and activities.
Women workers, young workers and disabled workers are still largely under-represented in trade union structures and activities as well as non-trade union representative structures. However, several trade unions have in recent years directed lots of attention towards correcting this anomaly. As mentioned above, most trade unions have set up women and youth departments at various levels with a view to improving on the situation of under-representation as well as creating a framework for giving more attention to issues affecting these categories of workers. Special quotas have also been established for the representation of these marginalised groups under the principle of affirmative action.
It must be mentioned that the under-representation of women in trade union structures is not because their interests compete with that of their male counterparts, but borders on several factors including cultural and traditional attitudes, the multiple roles that women play, the general low level of education among women, etc.
- Where it has proved impossible to establish effective collective bargaining arrangements for certain sections of the workforce, trade unions have sought to ensure basic employment rights and minimum standards of wages and conditions through a number of other means.
The most important of these has been to create more possibilities for effective and democratic workers participation at the level of the enterprise and beyond. At the level of the enterprise, trade unions have often used the representation of workers on Boards of Directors, Works Councils, Health and Safety Committees etc., to ensure basic employment rights and minimum standards of conditions.
At the national level, trade unions have often used their representation in national tripartite committees and National social and economic councils as alternative means of ensuring basic employment rights and minimum standards of wages and conditions.
2. Change in Labour Management Relations
- Trade unions are by nature decentralised organizations. In Africa, the structures of national trade union centres run from the grassroots or enterprise level to the national level, thus making it possible to cater for the specific needs of workers at all levels.
In response to current trends of decentralisation of labour relations, most trade unions have adopted certain strategies to strengthen the capacity of their structures at the different levels to respond to emerging issues. Prominent among these is the strengthening of organizational functions at the policy making level. The Ghana Trades Union Congress has, for instance, separated organizational functions from administrative ones at the policy making level, and thus created a new position of Deputy Secretary-General in charge of organization. This is to ensure the building of a B organizational capacity at all levels of the trade union structure in order to enable the union respond more adequately to issues arising out of the current trends of decentralisation of labour relations.
Most trade unions have, in response to the current trends of decentralisation of labour relations, sought to establish and strengthen workers participation in decision making at the various levels of the workplace. In other instances, trade unions have enlarged enterprise level trade union committees to include workers from all sections or units of the enterprise.
Trade union efforts to put in place other forms of workplace representation, beyond collective bargaining, is based on the need and desire to widen the scope of workers influence on decisions that affect them and their families. The most prominent system of workplace representation that has been created in recent times is the Workplace Forums in South Africa, provided for in the new Labour Relations Act. Other systems of workplace representation that have been created over the years include Workers representation on Boards of Directors, Works Councils, Durbars, Health and Safety Committees, Shareholding Schemes, Profit-sharing schemes, and other systems such as Welfare Committees and Disciplinary Committees.
In Africa, the existence of workers participation systems both at the level of the enterprise and beyond is a result of years of advocacy and struggle by trade unions. The conceptualisation and functioning of most of the workplace representation systems that exist today, particularly the labour-inspired ones, derive therefore from policies and strategies developed by trade unions and pursued over the years.
In most cases, the selection of workers representatives to these forms of workplace representation is done through the trade union structure, although other instances exist where provision is made for non-unionised workers. The trade union therefore often provides the support structure for the election of workers' representatives onto workplace representation structures.
This support structure also includes the provision of education and training for the elected representatives as well as research on the functioning of the system of representation, in order to make workers participation more effective and meaningful. The African Workers Participation Development Programme (APADEP) is a classic example of an African regional programme initiated by the OATUU, that aims at strengthening the capacity of African trade unions to represent the interests of workers in a more effective and meaningful way through education, training and research.
- Trade union response to recent 'human resource management' initiatives have been largely that of scepticism. Trade unions view these initiatives fundamentally as profit and production based, with little or no consideration for the welfare of workers and the improvement of working and living conditions of workers. Some of these initiatives also tend to weaken the collective representation strategies of trade unions as well as workers solidarity, which are the mainstay of trade union activity. For most trade unions, the response has been an outright rejection of these initiatives.
Where trade unions have made use of the argument of 'humanisation', it has been to support the justification for the involvement of workers in decision making on issues that affect them. Labour is not a commodity, as rightly intimated by the Philadelphia Declaration; labour is provided by human beings, as such work conditions and relations must take account of this principle. Work conditions and relations get humanised only if workers take part effectively in decision making on issues that border on work conditions and relations. Arguments put forth by trade unions on 'humanisation' have often centred around these considerations, and have greatly helped trade unions in their effort to establish regimes of workers' participation, consultation and concertation at the level of the workplace and beyond.
- Most trade unions have been able to win broader community support in resisting anti-union employers through networking with community-based organizations and other civil society organizations. In recent years, most African trade unions have recognised the need to build alliances with community-based organizations on issues of mutual concern and benefit. This process has been facilitated and strengthened owing to the fact that most of the members of these organizations are either workers or trade union activists. Through these alliances, most trade unions have been able to mobilise the support necessary not only to resist anti-union employers but also to oppose government policies that are deemed inimical to the well-being of workers and the wider society.
3. Public Status of Trade Unions
- Trade unions have proved that they genuinely reflect the views of their members in diverse ways. Firstly, trade unions are voluntary organizations, and have never had recourse, nor do they even have the means, to make membership mandatory on workers. The maintenance of the principle of voluntary membership and the continuous propensity for trade unions to organize workers in other 'non-traditional' sectors of the economy suggest that trade unions are succeeding in their efforts to reflect the views of their members.
Secondly, trade unions are by nature democratic organizations, although one can say that the democratic principles contained in the constitutions of most trade unions have hitherto been latent. However, propelled by the democratisation process currently going on in Africa, several trade unions have undertaken to seek or enforce the democratisation of their structures by ensuring that principal officers and other trade union representatives derive their mandate directly from the workers they represent through secret ballot elections. Beyond that, most trade unions have undertaken to enforce constitutional provisions on the right of members to recall elected representatives, and to provide workers with the education that will enable them interpret and understand constitutional issues better.
Thirdly, most trade unions have taken steps, in recent years, to ensure that their policies and programmes are based on the result of research activities conducted at the grassroots and intervening levels. Such policies and programmes, to a large extent, reflect the needs and aspirations of workers.
Trade unions have also succeeded in proving that they genuinely reflect the views of their members through their educational activities, which are usually designed to create awareness and build the cacpacity of workers to understand labour and related issues better.
Other initiatives such as the creation of working women desks and youth departments, and the operationalisation of the principle of affirmative action, are all indicators of the efforts of trade unions to genuinely reflect the views of their members.
- Where trade unions have created a distinction between human rights and trade union rights, they have done so largely for purposes of emphasis; but they have also often argued that trade union rights are human rights. The issue of human rights abuses is as significant to trade unions as trade union rights abuses.
In almost all instances where the status of trade unions has been threatened or never recognised, there has also been widespread human rights abuses. In these instances, trade unions have often succeeded in establishing that trade union rights are basic human rights. In the case of Nigeria during the Abacha dictatorship, for instance, there was widespread trade union as well as human rights abuses. The action taken by the OATUU against the violation of trade union rights in Nigeria, has rightly succeeded by the abrogation of the anti-union decrees by the present government of Nigeria.
The collaboration of trade unions with human rights organizations in defending human and trade union rights is yielding great dividends in Africa.
- Alliance building between trade unions and other organizations is most existent outside the workplace. Being civil organizations, most trade unions have made it part of their agenda to build alliances with other civil society organizations with the view to achieving mutually beneficial objectives.
The democratisation process going on in Africa has particularly given the grounds for trade unions to build coalitions with organizations such as journalists associations, lawyers associations, human rights organizations etc., with a view to providing a collective mechanism for monitoring the process and for consolidating democracy in their countries.
Some trade unions have also engaged in building alliances with other workers' organizations aimed at undertaking unified initiatives towards promoting workers' interests, particularly in the areas of advocating for favourable labour laws, establishing minimum wage regimes and labour dispute settlement.
There are also instances where specific departments within trade unions, such as working women or youth departments, have undertaken to build alliances with relevant organizations with the view to strengthening their activities and complementing the efforts of their unions.
To a less extent, some trade unions have built alliances with environmental organizations with the view to improving their delivery in terms of occupational health and safety issues.
4. Challenges in a Hostile Economic Environment
- African trade unions have long recognised the dangers inherent in the persistent incidence of economic decline and the worsening situation of unemployment, and have continuously evolved strategies to enable them influence government policies and programmes on these issues.
Most trade unions have over the decade or so developed policies on democratic workers' participation, particularly at workplace levels and levels beyond, and have devised means to effectively participate in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national policies and programmes. Through education and research, trade unions have continually built the capacity of worker representatives and trade unionists not only to participate, but also to influence decisions taken at their levels of operation. The APADEP programme is an example of such initiatives.
Beyond this, most trade unions have undertaken to invest their resources towards the creation of their own businesses. The national trade union centres in Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana and Tunisia, to mention a few, have over the years invested in such sectors as insurance, banking, hotel and catering, which have developed into big businesses employing thousands of workers. These initiatives are not only aimed at job creation but also at economic development, and have greatly enhanced the status of most trade unions as social partners, and thus their tendency to influence government policies.
Trade unions have also from time to time organized conferences, seminars and colloquiums on national issues, with a view to debating such issues and arriving at concrete decisions and proposals for the attention of government. Such activities often centre around economic development, labour and employment issues, which have assumed great importance today. These activities usually bring together the social partners and experts in the relevant areas, thereby enriching the debates and rendering the conclusions more relevant and acceptable.
Other initiatives taken by trade unions to influence government policies on economic development and job creation include alliance building with other civil society organizations. In recent years, most trade unions have engaged in coalition building with local civil organizations and international organization as a means of building support against certain economic policies that have proved injurious to trade unions and the wide majority of Africans, such as the orthodox Structural Adjustment Programmes of the IMF and the World Bank. The institution of the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) in Ghana and several other African countries as well as the setting up of the Structural Adjustment Programme Review Initiative (SAPRI) and other concensus building bodies is indicative of the success of these initiatives.
- In terms of trade union measures to improve the position of the unemployed, it is worthy of note that apart from debating the issue of unemployment and making presentations to their governments on a consistent basis, trade unions have undertaken proactive measures towards contributing to job creation. We have already seen how some trade unions have set up and are operating big businesses that employ thousands of workers. That apart, the OATUU/UNDP/ILO Project on Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development within African Trade Unions is a programme that aims principally at job creation among retrenched workers and the vulnerable in African societies. The project aims at training such people to start their own businesses or to improve on existing ones as well as assisting trade unions to improve on the performance of enterprises they own and operate.
With regard to improving the position of new entrants to the labour force, the main initiative of trade unions has been in the area of education and training, particularly on labour relations, trade unionism, labour laws, productivity, collective bargaining, to mention but a few subjects. The purpose of these activities has been to assist such workers develop their professional status and to stabilise their jobs by enabling them have a better understanding of the work environment and the functioning of labour relations within the national economy.
- Some of the forms of work organizations that trade unions have identified as viable alternatives include worker cooperatives and labour-based investment schemes. Within a broad framework, the main features of policies on these alternative forms border on the following:
- the objectives, status and functioning of each initiative;
- the creation of an autonomous unit or department within the trade union to cater for the particular initiative;
- assigning of an officer, elected or appointed, responsible for the particular initiative, his/her mandate and responsibilities;
- creation of a revolving fund to support this initiative.
5. The International Economy: A Threat to National Trade Unions?
- In Africa, the main means for the exchange of information, the coordination of activities and for the carrying out of common activities internationally is through fora provided by the OATUU and other international trade union organizations. The ILO and the tripartite OAU Labour and Social Affairs Commission also provide the framework for such activities.
International trade secretariats share a lot of information about activities of transnational corporations with their members and other national, continental or international trade union organizations.
Some trade unions are also able to exchange information through the internet, but this facility is still inaccessible to many African trade unions.
· Although it might be true to maintain that most trade union members are primarily interested in questions which directly affect them in their own workplace, it is important to point out that trade union members are becoming increasingly conscious of, and concerned about, the impact of international developments on their national economies and consequently on conditions at the level of the workplace. Trade unions have been able to arrive at this mainly through their education and training activities. The globalization of the world economy, the Uruguay Round, the World Trade Organization and international trade, the World Bank, the IMF and Structural Adjustment Programmes, are issues that now form the core of trade union educational activities, through which unions are able to explain in clearer terms the link between the workplace, the national economy and the international economy.
6. The Next Steps
- The challenges discussed above are very important to Africa as a continent, although the magnitude varies from country to country. Across the board, the most challenging are the international economy, the changing patterns of employment and union membership, and the hostile economic environment.
- Other key issues which should be examined include the international economy and challenges posed to the ILO; and Labour standards in a globalized economy.
- Trade unions have responded to these developments in diverse ways. Some of these include strengthening their organizational functions and activities at all levels; intensifying their education, training and research activities; developing policies to organize informal sector workers, casual workers and other hitherto unidentified professions; embarking on the creation of labour-owned enterprises and initiating business start-up and expansion education programmes; and strengthening workers participation at all levels.
- All the initiatives outlined above have received varying degrees of success in different African countries. The programme on workers' participation, APADEP, has been particularly successful in seven African countries, namely Guinea, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and South Africa.
1.
1
For Germany, Hübner and Bley were able to empirically and theoretically demonstrate that there is hardly any link between the development of national wage costs and the international competitive strength of the economy, while there is probably a close link between exchange rate fluctuations and countries' competitive position on the world market (cf. Hübner/Bley 1996).
2.
2
The reference - often cited in this respect - to the fact that wage costs in many firms amount to barely 10% of total costs, however, is nonsense. Ultimately, wage costs determine the extent of the share of labour in net production value, and - macroeconomically - in "national income," and thus limit the size of profit income, as explained by Marx in presenting the division of new value of production ("variable capital - new value").
3.
3
This situation is especially clear when Germany (FRG) is compared with the USA: whereas nominal wages in both countries rose by something like 100% between 1980 and 1994 (USA: +105%, FRG: +99.3%), real wages in the same period rose by +11.6% in the USA and by +34.7% in the FRG, while unit labour costs in the USA rose by +72% and in the FRG by +42.2%. The reason for this contrasting development was the different rate of increase in labour productivity, which rose by +16.5% in the USA but by 40.4% in the FRG over the period under consideration (all data from Kuda 1996). The fact that these figures are reminiscent of the comparison between the EU and the USA is reflected in a comparison of the average annual rate of growth of macroeconomic labour productivities, which in the period from 1986 to 1995 were +1.9% for the EU (EU-15) but +0.8% for the USA (from Schubert 1997, p. 1).
4.
4
This thesis requires clarification, however, since a higher employment rate, which affects women in particular, also leads - as Esping-Andersen (1996) explain - to a "commoditization," a displacement of household work ("a working woman needs a wife"), that can entail positive employment effects, which in the USA has substantially led to "wealthless job growth." In this regard, a higher employment rate, all other things being equal, does not automatically have to lead to higher unemployment (cf. on this also Häussermann/Siebel 1996).
5.
5
In addition, some authors (e.g., Krätke 1996) note that in trade in financial investments and securities the national banking and stock exchange centres are still preferred. However, this observation does not refute the above-cited trend towards growing instability and tendencies towards greater independence, especially in the speculative area of financial flows.
6.
6
We cannot resist here using the term "region" with different meanings, namely to refer to a 'region' within national economic areas, a 'region' in the sense of different economic areas in Europe, and a 'region' in the sense of globally distinguished economic areas (Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, etc.).
7.
7
For this reason, the initially obvious perspective of internationalization, one which also internally eases nation-state policy, is not one of international regulation, but that of liberalization of the nation-state political structure, as Wolfgang Streeck stresses: "Cooperation beyond 'negative integration' is...unlikely. (...) From the perspective of nation states bound to an international system of market-opening multilevel policies, liberalization of their economy is the most obvious answer to economic internationalization. Politically, liberalization relieves the nation state of tasks - above all the political guarantee of full employment - which it has long been unable to take advantage of following the collapse of the post-war international order supporting it." (Streeck 1996, p. 12, italics added by present authors).
8.
8
The difference between a "social infrastructure policy" and a "social cohesion policy" is taken from the above-mentioned contribution by Streeck (Streeck 1996, p. 19); unlike Streeck, however, we understand both these starting points of labour policy not as being mutually exclusive per se, however worthy of consideration Streeck's objections may be. The political task of a "reflexive modern" (Beck) lies precisely in the task of regulating the process of differentiation (pushed forward by globalization processes) such that in the differentiation social cohesion is preserved and is linked with new emancipatory options for action. Using the example of German trade union policy, we have provided a contribution to the discussion with other colleagues (cf. Hoffmann et al. 1990).
9.
9
This perspective characterizes positions like those of Altvater/Mahnkopf (1993) or the several contributions of Streeck on the European Union: for example, in the contribution cited here several times (1996). There follows from this a retreat to the national level as the place to defend the welfare state while neglecting the opportunities offered by the European level of regulation.
10.
10
Various studies of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) note that the social partners have a formally and institutionally protected influence on the economic, industrial and social policy of the coal and steel industry, which to a large degree has contributed to socially acceptable crisis management (cf. Coal and Steel Committee Liaison Office 1995).
11.
11
The Commission's annual economic report notes individual progress in the financing of the trans-European networks (TENs), but necessary decisions on expansion of the financial resources have so far not been taken and the surpluses from the agricultural fund were not, as Santer called for, allocated to the TENs but instead went back into the member states' treasuries at the decision of EU finance ministers.
12.
12
The 1993 working time directive is indeed an attempt by the Commission to establish minimum standards, but it does not in any way correspond to an innovative working time policy. On the other hand, more interesting, but unsuccessful, are the Commission's efforts to socially regulate increasingly important atypical work relations. Corresponding proposals for directives were tabled as early as 1982(!), but so far they have not been adopted in the Council due to the consensus requirement. To break through this blockade, the Commission has called on the European social partners to reach corresponding wage agreements under the rules of the social protocol (cf. Dürmeier 1997).
13.
13
However, it must also be noted that the importance of various political-ideological orientations at the European level has markedly declined. An indication of this is the fact that the ETUC has only developed into a unified European union since the end of the 1980s. Following the accession of the Christian trade union confederations in Belgium and the Netherlands back in the mid-1970s, shortly after the founding of the ETUC in 1973, ever since the accession of the CGTP-IN (Portugal) and CC.OO (Spain), both of which are left-wing socialist-communist confederations, conflicts involving trade unions with party political or religious affiliations have been largely a thing of the past. The ability to act was not at all weakened by the acceptance of trade unions linked to an ideology. There are differences of opinion only on the possible entry of the CGT (France) into the ETUC.
14.
14
A practical proposal for coordinating wage negotiations in the EU, in which cross-sector ("multi-") levels, the sectoral negotiations level and the level of Euro-companies (with European works councils) are connected and already available practical experience is used, is developed by Marginson/Sisson 1996.
15.
15
Streeck (1996) arrives at a substantially more sceptical assessment. He agrees that the directive does not at all have the quality of national codetermination laws. It must also be stressed, however, that as early as the 1970s and 1980s European standards could be adopted that had considerable effects on national labour relations. Among others, this includes the directives on equal pay (1975) and equal treatment (1976) and the directives on large-scale dismissals and the transfer of undertakings (1981). In the area of labour and health protection as well, considerable progress was achieved on the basis of the Single European Act, which deviated from the principle of consensus for this area, which in part clearly went beyond the national level of protection.
16.
16
The following analysis of the new challenges and of responses to them will focus on these three areas (labour markets, industrial relations in their crucial dimension of the wage bargaining system, and welfare systems).
17.
17
Numerous sources of data and information have been used to build the synoptic table. Firstly, I have drawn amply on a comparative study on eight European countries which I have coordinated for the European Community, DGXII (cf. Esping-Andersen & Regini, 1998). Systematic collections on recent trends in some of the areas considered, which have provided valuable information for this analysis, are the volumes edited by Ferner & Hyman (1998) and by Fajertag & Pochet (1997). Further useful sources of comparative data are the journal European Industrial Relations Review and, for the last two years, the EIRO database coordinated by the European Foundation in Dublin.
18.
18
Some of these alternatives are relevant to areas other than the ones with which they are associated here: one can for instance distinguish tendencies towards rigidity or flexibility also in the bargaining structure, or towards centralization or decentralization in welfare systems, and so on. However, considering only the principal alternatives helps to simplify what would otherwise be a rather complex classificatory scheme.
19. 2 The discussion will now focus on the latter two, and most important, aspects of the revival of concertation (incomes policy and pensions), while the first (laws on civil service) will be examined in the next section.
20. 4 'Clean Hands', the campaign conducted by the Milanese judiciary against political corruption.
21.
7 According to figures issued by the OECD and the European Commission, quoted in La Repubblica Affari & Finanza, XI, 15 (22 April 1966), pp. 1-3, in 1993 overall social spending excluding education in Italy was 25.8% of GDP compared with the 28.5% average in the European Union (12 countries). However, spending on pensions amounted to a high 15.4% of GDP compared with the average of 11.9% in the 12 countries of the EU.
22.
1
0 However, enrolments by pensioners rose in the same period, so that the overall result was an increase in union membership from 9,006,000 to 10,144,000 (see Table 1).
23.
1
1 According to the comparative data available, in 1980 rates of unionization in the main European countries were as follows: United Kingdom 51%, German Federal Republic 37%, France 19%, Italy 49%. In 1989 they were: United Kingdom 42%, German Federal Republic 34%, France 12%, Italy 40% (Visser, 1992: 19).
24.
1
2 In fact, there had been various attempts to introduce a single representative body in the 1970s, with limited success. For a general discussion of the problem see Regalia (1995) and Carrieri (1995).
25.
1
3 For this purpose the 1993 agreement made explicit reference to the understanding reached by Cgil, Cisl and Uil in March 1991, which thus obtained official recognition.
26. Paper presented at the 11
th
World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association Bologna, 22 - 26 September 1998 .
27. These studies are conducted under 'APADEP': the 'African Worker Participation Development Programme'. This programme of cooperation between trade unions and universities, in more than 10 countries in Africa, started in the early 1980s. A description of the programme, and of its research approach and activities, may be found in the brochure This is APADEP (1997). This brochure also lists all publications produced until end 1997. The studies quoted in this paper appear in the references at the end of the paper.
Systematic comparative research started in 1987. The questionnaire survey is the main method of data collection. Between 1987 and 1997, questionnaire surveys of 5,448 trade union representatives were carried out: 1,960 in Guinea (1987-90), 220 in Zimbabwe (1991-92), 1,516 in Mali (1993-97), 1,116 in Tanzania (1993-96), 636 in Ghana (1995-mid 1996). For other countries (Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Cape Verde and South Africa), questionnaire surveys are in their early stages. Exploratory and descriptive case studies were conducted to supplement the information obtained through the questionnaire surveys. In all, 36 case studies were conducted, mostly between 1993 and 1996: 1 in Guinea, 3 in Zimbabwe, 9 in Tanzania, 11 in Mali, 8 in Ghana, and more incidental ones in Zambia, Cape Verde and Togo in the 1980s. Trend studies of the development of labour relations, trade unionism and participation were conducted in ten African countries, and were backed up by a more general study of documents and publications - to provide the background of the data obtained through the questionnaire surveys and the case studies.
28. It should be noted that the APADEP research agenda had put full emphasis, in a first medium term plan, on the study of the functioning of trade unionism and labour relations in the formal sector - as little to no empirical knowledge was available. Under the first medium plan exploratory studies of the informal sector were carried out to prepare the ground for systematic research in a second medium term plan, which is to start in 1999. See also footnote 3.
29. Major research questions in a forthcoming APADEP medium term plan research project include: what are the particular characteristics of the informal sector; what are the needs of informal sector workers and by what means can these be fulfilled; what structures are suitable for this category of workers including the marginalised groups; what are the already existing forms of organization among this category of workers; to what extent do existing trade unions have to review their statutes and structures to allow for the integration of informal sector workers into mainstream trade unionism; what legislative initiatives have to be undertaken to ensure that trade unions can fully represent the interests of informal sector workers?
Increasing globalisation also raises the question of trade union influence on international decision making more and more. A number of studies have already been made of trade union participation in consultations with the world bank (see chapter 3 of the APADEP publication Trade Unions and sustainable Democracy in Africa), but trade union organizations do also take regularly part in other platforms of decision making, like in the OAU Labour Commission, in the annual ACP consultations with trade unions, and in the annual ILO Conference. Case studies of the latter three will be conducted, in order to assess the effectiveness of trade union participation, and to assess strengths and weaknesses.
30. The results for Guinée were published (Diallo, M., et al., 1992: 100-111) the overall comparative results of five countries will be published in a forthcoming book (to appear in 1999).
31. The 'class consciousness scale' was operationalised as follows. In the questionnaire the respondents were asked to compare their own wage or salary with that of 8 typical categories: from watchman or clerk to professor and lawyer, assessing their feelings of relative deprivation. Class consciousness was considered high if respondent felt more deprived as s/he compared own wage or salary with that of higher categories. Such feelings of deprivation were either very low or non-existent. The overall result indicated, rather, that all respondents felt that everybody whatever his or her status - was earning less than deserved. These results will be published in a forthcoming APADEP publication (1999).
32. One recorded evidence may illustrate this point. The Executive Committee of the Cape Verde trade union confederation held a two-week workshop, in 1987, to assess its influence in government policy through the many institutional procedures of national participation and concertation. It came to the self-shocking conclusion that its influence was practically nil, but that instead the trade union was manipulated by party and government. Its conclusions and proposals for change are recorded in: Uniao Nacional dos Trabalhadores de Cabo Verde (1987), Estrategia e politica de participacao dos trabalhadores, UNTC-CS / APADEP : Praia.
33. Pessimism on the future of trade unionism is not uncommon and not restricted to Africa. Labbé and Croisat (1992) wrote about 'the end of trade unionism' in France. Thomas wrote about trade union erosion and even about an "almost total elimination [of trade unions] as a significant social institution" (1995: 3), referring to third world trade unions, including African. In many government and employer circles this may sound as good news but a simple glance at membership statistics may be full of pitfalls. As described earlier in this paper, it was precisely in the past, despite 'ceremonial' large membership, that trade unions were weak, as they were subordinated to single parties. It is true that trade unions are undergoing a fundamental process of change: as their internal democracy increases they should become more legitimate, as they depend less on party and government subsidies they should become more autonomous, etc. (See also Kester & Sidibé: 1997: 14-17). It is too easily forgotten that trade unions constitute the largest force in civil society with an influence far beyond the proportions of its actual membership -also because of its often non-ethnic and strategic position (Akwetey, 1994), and are developing a new dynamic Sidibé: & Venturi, 1997: 38 ff).
34.
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