PROMOTING THE ILO DECENT WORK AGENDA IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY (I.E.): THE ROLE OF TRADE UNIONS AND INFORMAL ECONOMY ASSOC

1. PROMOTING THE ILO DECENT WORK AGENDA IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY (I.E.): THE ROLE OF TRADE UNIONS AND INFORMAL ECONOMY ASSOCIATIONS. COUNTRY REPORT – GHANA TUC BY NADIA IBRAHIMAH nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

2. 1. INTRODUCTION:a)THE GHANAIAN SOCIETY • Ghana is located in West Africa with a population of approximately 20 million. The sex ratio of the population is 97 males and 100 females or 51% female and 49% male in. The population is growing at about 2.7% per anum. The average household size is estimated at 5 members and life expectancy is 58years. • Ecologically, Ghana is divided into 3 zones: Coastal and Forest Zones (in the southern part of the country) and Savannah (in the northern part of the country) nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

3. GHANAIAN SOCIETY CONT’D • Administratively Ghana is divided into ten (10) regions: 3 in the north and seven (7) in the south. Majority of the population lives in the seven (7) southern regions • The capital city is Accra with a population of about 3 million (15% of the country’s population). The two (2) other cities are Kumasi (4 hours drive from Accra) and Takoradi (3 hours drive from Accra) • 1/3 of the country’s population live in the urban areas, 2/3 live in the rural area. • Literacy rate among adults 15years and above is 57% nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

4. b) THE INFORMAL ECONOMY (I.E.) IN GHANA(Gh. Living Standard Survey) The Informal Economy in Ghana is appropriately defined to cover all “unregistered” economic activities (including agriculture). Over 80% of the economically active population in Ghana are in the informal economy nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

5. Categories of I. E. • There are three (3) categories of operators in the informal economy. • Small businesses with few employees, mostly in the area of service, artisans or small production. In reality they are SME’s (Small & Medium Sized Enterprises). This group includes a large number of artisans within wood, metal, textiles and other crafts; it also includes small shops, dress makers, hair dressers, mechanics and repairers etc. Quite a large number of these businesses have the potential for growth and can be supported (by giving them more regular jobs) through programmes of strengthening their managerial and entrepreneurial skills nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

6. Categories of I. E. cont’d • Self employed persons working with one or more unpaid family members in areas such as farming, crafts, trading etc. but without any paid labour. These groups often have to look for additional (or new) forms of income because of market trends and since their investments in equipment etc. most often are modest, they may shift their attention to completely new areas of income. Without employing paid labour, these businesses rarely have potential for growth as individual businesses, but through formation of cooperatives or associations working together, some of them may reach higher levels nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

7. Categories of I. E. cont’d • Self – employed persons working alone without real capital. They work at minimum level and will change their trade or position if something else comes up. This group includes street vendors, subsistence farmers, domestic workers, petty traders etc. It is difficult to support them to grow within their trade, but they can be encouraged to form associations and cooperatives and subsequently reach higher levels. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

8. C) GHANA TRADES UNION CONGRESS(TUC)(ref.: Gh. TUC Constitution & Regulations, Reviewed ) • TUC is the biggest umbrella organisation for trade union activities in Ghana. It is made up of Seventeen affiliate national unions which are constituted mainly along industrial sectors. These affiliate national unions are: • General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) • Union of Industry Commerce and Finance (UNICOF) • Communication Workers Union (CWU) • Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) • Local Government Workers Union (LGWU) • Maritime & Dockworkers Union (MDU) • National Union of Seamen (NUS) • Health Services Workers Union (HSWU) nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

9. GHANA TRADES UNION CONGRESS CONT’D • Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) • Construction, Building Material Workers Union • Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) • Timber & Woodworkers Union (TWU) • Railway Enginemen Union (REU) • Railway Workers Union (RWU) • General Transport Petroleum & Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) • Teachers & Educational Workers Union (TEWU) The unions are autonomous and pursue their own activities within the framework of their constitution and their areas of legally accepted jurisdiction. The TUC is non-political and its 1992 constitution debars all elected officials from identifying with any political Party. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

10. GHANA TRADES UNION CONGRESS CONT’D It has its headquarters at the hall of Trade Unions in Accra. The TUC has over the years continued to experience fluctuations in membership. This is due to dwindling formal sector employment which traditionally serve as the strength for TUC membership. For instance from over one million membership (between 1958 -1983) and five hundred thousand membership (between 1983 – 1996), the total membership stands at 300,000 as at now. Without the addition of informal workers the situation could have been worse. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

11. 2. GHANA TUC’s INVOLVEMENT IN THE ORGANISATION OF I. E. OPERATORS Trade unions in Ghana have been involved in organizational work in the informal economy since 1978 when the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of TUC started organizing rural workers. The Union created a structure called the “Rural Workers Department” to facilitate the work. The Timber & Wood workers Union, an affiliate of TUC started organizing charcoal burners, small scale carpenters, chain saw operators and wood carvers. The Industrial/Commercial Workers Union (ICU) began with the Organisation of hairdressers, beauticians and domestic Workers while the Public Service Workers Union started organizing lotto receivers & professional photographers. The ICU has since severed their relationship with Ghana TUC. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

12. GHANA TUC’s INVOLVEMENT IN THE ORGANISATION OF I. E. OPERATORS-2 In addition to these unions, the GPRTU an informal economy union which operates by organizing self employed commercial drivers and vehicle owners has been a pioneer member of GTUC since 1945. Even though the informal economy has been Growing over the years and especially in the 1980’s where many formal workers were retrenched and laid off as a result of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced by the government of the day, a situation which impacted negatively on union membership, the union did not take advantage of the growth of the sector to add up to their numbers. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

13. GHANA TUC’s INVOLVEMENT IN THE ORGANISATION OF I. E. OPERATORS-3 This was due to lack of political will and clarity of direction on the part of union leaders. This was apparently as a result of the uncertain nature of the sector. The general feeling at the time was that it was much more expensive and time consuming to organise in the informal economy. Union leaders were not sure of the rate of returns on the human and financial investments made. Another belief was that the sector was a transitory phenomenon and not an enduring, even growing economic activity. Mean while the unions continued to experience decline in Membership. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

14. 3. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING (ref.: Org. Dept. TUC) In 1996 the quadrennial delegates congress of TUC considered the implications of the declining trade union membership and adopted the policy on the informal sector organisation. The policy identified organizing operators in the informal economy as a major challenge that required creative approach and mobilisation. Following the formulation of the policy a national leadership workshop, attended by all the affiliate unions was organised to strategise for the implementation of the policy. One of the issues that came out for discussion was the benefits and nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

15. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont. challenges of organising informal operators into an organisation of formal workers like TUC. The workshop agreed that it was worth organising the informal economy operators because their organisation into the unions will enhance the leverage of TUC in the eyes of the government and the general public, and TUC will indeed be in a better position to claim to be a truly workers representative and thus strengthen the bargaining power of TUC with government and employers. At the same time the informal economy operators themselve will immensely benefit from TUC’s organising skills and use this to strengthen the internal democracy of their association. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

16. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont. The informal economy operators will also benefit from the several educational programmes organised by the TUC. More importantly, the TUC will serve as voice and representation for the vulnerable in the informal economy. Another issue that was identified was how organised informal economy operators who are not on regular source of income could pay subscription fees, since traditionally trade unions depended on union dues from their members for their sustenance. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

17. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d The workshop recognized that even though payment of union dues was an important factor in trade union organisation and that the payment of such dues shows members commitment to the organisation, in view of the fact that informal economy operators were not on regular incomes, it was important to allow them pay subscription fees at their own convenience. For example the informal economy associations they belong to could be made to pay the agreed dues on members behalf. Payments could be effected on daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

18. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d Considering the peculiar nature of informal economy operators with regard to sources of income, it was agreed that unions should not use the amount of funds from their organised informal economy members to determine their policies and programmes for them and that the overall objectives for organising in the informal economy (i.e. increasing our leverage as a truly representative of all workers and assisting to give a large number of voiceless work force, voice and representation) should be the underlying principle of our organizational work in the informal economy. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

19. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d It was agreed that to make organizational work in the sector much easier, the union should focus on organising informal economy associations rather than individual operators. Another critical issue was the recognition that informal economy operators tend to have several needs and the fact that the traditional employee – employer relations that trade unions are used to over the years do not exist for traditional bargaining arrangements to be effected. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

20. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d Indeed while the workshop acknowledged the fact that informal economy operators, by nature of their work, could make several demands, trade unions should be careful on their promises to this group of workers and must constantly remind themselves of the fact that as trade unions, they may not have the funds to meet all the needs of their members. Trade unions can represent informal economy workers at meetings with government ministries, municipal and local authorities. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

21. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d They could also effectively advocate for good social and economic policies for them. The workshop recommended for the unions to review their constitutions in order to mainstream informal economy operators into their union structures. One important strategy being used by TUC and the affiliate unions in their organizational work is the use of people they call “contact persons” who act as links between them and the potential informal economy association they intended organising. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

22. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d The unique aspect of this structure was the fact that the contact persons were identified and selected from membership of the informal economy associations the affiliate unions intended organising; it was the belief that informal economy operators tend to have more faith in their own colleague operators and listen to them than from someone they see as a complete stranger from a trade union office. Ghana TUC have so far being able to develop training manuals for the affiliate national unions to assist them train their officers responsible for organisation. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

23. NEW STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING Cont’d It has also developed educational materials for the national unions to use in training their contact persons, newly elected executives of organised informal economy associations as well as the core leadership of the TUC. Another important publication is the newsletters on TUC activities in the informal economy that comes out yearly to sensitize the Ghanaian Media and the general public. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

24. 4. CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD Even though it is widely acknowledged that TUC has made some progress with regard to the organisation of workers in the informal economy, considering the large pool of informal economy workers in Ghana (87% of the total national economy), and given the enabling environment that provides for freedom of association for all workers (Labour Law 651) and the existence of several informal economy associations in the country ready for organisation, It is the belief that Ghana TUC could have done more organisational work in the informal economy than it has done so far. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

25. CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD CONT’D Some people attribute the apparent slow pace of organisational work to the method used. For example unions have the liberty to organise informal economy workers into their unions and thus a union can decide not to organise or organise at its own pace and convenience. Others attribute the slow pace of organisational work to other factors such as lack of commitment and political will on the part of leadership, inadequate resources and the inability of unions to develop appropriate strategies to attract and maintain informal economy workers. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

26. CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD CONT’D Indeed it is the feeling of those advocating for a paradigm change in organisational methods that TUC encourage the formation of one single umbrella union to be responsible for informal economy workers. It is believed that such an organisation which could be an affiliate of TUC would focus more and better serve the interest of its members i.e. the informal economy workers than the present arrangement where informal economy workers are made to compete with their counterparts in the formal sector within the same union for scarce resources and needs. As an affiliate of TUC, such a union would enjoy all the rights and responsibilities enshrined in the TUC constitution. It would have a seat in all the TUC structures and its leaders would be eligible for leadership positions in TUC nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

27. CONCLUSIONS Indeed it can be said that all the arguments deduced for the organisation of informal economy workers by TUC are valid. What is important however is to consider these as challenges and find the appropriate strategies to address that for a better organisation of informal economy workers. In the light of the continuous decline in trade union membership as a result of present global economic dictates, it is important for trade unions, including the Ghana TUC to realize that their relevance as workers organisation is seriously under threat. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com

28. CONCLUSIONS It must also be realized that no serious trade union can claim to represent workers when in actual fact they only can count on the membership from formal sector workers. While it is true informal economy workers need the support and services of trade unions to ensure the protection of their interests and the defense of their rights. It is also true trade unions require informal workers to strengthen their organisation and make it more legitimate and acceptable as workers organisation. As trade unions we must find a way to develop the appropriate strategies and make the necessary resources available for more organisational work in the informal economy. nadibrah2000@yahoo.com