Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Trade Unions

The International Labour Conference tackled several themes this year including social dialogue and sustainable development in the context of the creation of decent work. As President of ITUC-Africa, what do you think about these two themes?

I think that this year the two themes are very important. Social dialogue, in relation to Convention No. 144 on tripartite consultation, is extremely important for the African continent. In lots of countries we are regularly seeing social conflicts caused by violations of or misunderstanding of labour legislation and of international conventions. For several years the continent has been fighting, through its organized workers in the trade unions, to make social dialogue a reality. The conventions may have been signed and recognized, but in reality social dialogue isn’t happening, and this is acting as a break on Africa’s economic and social development. Production and competitiveness cannot come about under such circumstances. This is why today’s discussions are of utmost importance. In Senegal for example, the establishment of a national committee on social dialogue that brings together all the parties in government, the employers and the workers, has done a lot to help stabilise the social climate and to minimize social conflicts and strikes. That is not to say that tension and problems do not exist. But cases like this at least allow the social partners, employers, workers and government to raise the issues, to discuss them and to find alternative solutions for getting out of a crisis and for collective management. Social dialogue is necessary for job creation because we do not believe that investors are attracted by areas where there is tension. Repeated strikes tend to discourage investors. This is why the international trade union movement, ITUC-Africa, and the national trade unions are constantly fighting for social dialogue to become institutionalised in all African countries, and for social dialogue to become a reality.

So far as sustainable development goes, I think that issues of the environment and climate change, are important elements and something that Governments, employers, and workers should pay attention to – and I think that today, everyone is aware of the need to better manage natural resources. Africa has much more of an interest today in developing policies based on sustainable development of the environment. Sustainable development is an issue where we have to find alternatives and find ways of creating transition. Transitions will also allow the creation of green jobs. We believe that although there exist a lot of potential in Africa, the continent is being kept in a state of poverty both internally as well as externally. We think that in terms of its resources, African leaders, African workers and African employers must be made aware that they need to rationalise African resources today, to avoid the trap of the continent, to refuse to over-exploit Africa’s mining, forestry and marine heritage. Green jobs can be created because often we put an emphasis on the use of fossil fuels, which are polluting. But Africa is rich in hydraulic, wind and solar resources etc. I think that by developing energy along those lines more green jobs can also be created.

The issue of employment and social protection in the demographic context was addressed at this session of the conference. At a trade union level, have you obtained any results on these two areas, that would interest African workers?

I think that these are two important issues and two major challenges for the African trade unions. Today, the crises that have shaken the African continent have had repercussions not only on the existing jobs, but also on social security. If you take Africa today, in terms of its total population, you have about 9 to 10 per cent of its population that is covered; that is why it is so important to expand social protection. And so far, social protection is not complete in Africa, unemployment is one of them. There are still countries where workers are not covered by social security. Africa, in some countries, has a very large rural population with an informal sector that is getting bigger every day.

We think that investment is a key factor to create jobs. But before we can attract investment we must ensure that the existing jobs are protected and strengthened, that newly created jobs are also strengthened and that we do not follow a pattern of creating jobs just to see them disappear again. Another factor to take into account is the structure of the African family, it is in our interest for the existing jobs today to be protected, strengthened and maintained. And we have to look for ways and means to develop jobs through investment. We have to get to a point where Africans manage to put in place mechanisms for social coverage that make it possible to cover all the populations and particularly the most vulnerable populations that are in rural areas or in the informal sector. It is a daily battle that we are conducting and fighting for on the African continent.

At the level of ITUC- Africa, what are your priorities particularly in the context of the promotion and application of international labour standards?

Standards and the application of standards are key priorities for African trade unions. We put an emphasis on the promotion of standards, on information, on training and the strengthening of workers’ capacities so that they understand the importance of the standards. We try to teach them, the fundamental standards so that they can better defend their rights in a continent where there are still a lot of violations of rights. The violations that consist of failure to respect freedom, refusal to let workers designate their own representatives, denial of freedom of association and of collective bargaining and discrimination against women. The list is long. This is why we at ITUC-Africa have for several years, in the context of the training and education programme, put standards at the centre of that programme.

I also have to thank ILO and ACTRAV here, for their endless support which we hope will continue since it is still very much needed. Africa is vast, the trade union movement is still young in some countries, the leaders change on a daily basis. We also need the support of ACTRAV to be able to wage this war better, so that respect for labour standards can become a reality in many African companies.