Trade Unions
Authors: Bellucci Stefano 
Published: September 2024

Trade unions are important social and political actors in Africa. Their role goes beyond the perimetry of the world of work or industrial relations to enter the political sphere. A large literature exists on these workers’ organizations. Trade unions have been studied from multiple angles and disciplines. To put some order to this body of academic and popularizing work, it is necessary to depart from the acknowledgment of the multidisciplinary nature of studies on African trade unions. Therefore, apart from a general overview, this article divides this body of literature into six main subgroups: trade unions in industrial relations in Africa, which means membership, collective bargaining, and collective action, including labor unrest and strikes; trade unions structure and governance, which includes legal aspects and labor rights; sector-specific literature, given the fact that trade unions are more prominent in some sectors than in others; literature on trade union internationalism and regional trade unions; the relationship of trade unions with politics, which includes country-specific studies; and, finally, life histories. As highlighted by the literature, two factors determined the birth and growth of unionism in Africa in the twentieth century: first, the capitalist transformation of African economies, especially but not exclusively during colonialism; and second, the expansion of a particular kind of labor relation, namely waged labor, which was exploited to profit capital. Hence literature on trade unions is often preoccupied with the role of trade unions within the capitalist transformation of African societies and with trade unions’ attitudes toward capital, capitalists or employers, and governments that are usually there to serve them. Many studies conceptualize trade unions in relation to the economic sector, including the role of trade unions in public services, education, public administration, transport, health, mining, manufacture, and other areas. To a lesser extent, studies exist on commercial agriculture. This is because trade union density is higher in these sectors, with higher capital investment, both private and public. This is not the same in all regions and countries in Africa. Trade unions play an important and historical role in African politics. Numerous studies exist on trade unions’ opposition to colonial vested economic interests that employed African labor. With the postcolonial formal recognition of trade unions came their involvement in national politics, but also their co-optation by both ideological camps opposing each other during the Cold War. In some cases, African trade unions have been subjected to repression and banning. In other instances, they have been co-opted by political power. There are, however, also cases of African trade unions that managed to retain their autonomy from political and economic power. Since the end of the Cold War, trade unions have generally enjoyed a relatively higher degree of freedom. New approaches to the study of labor—such as global labor studies and global labor history—have increasingly marginalized trade unions. This is because in Africa trade unions represent a minority of workers—i.e., the formal wage worker, often male. The idea that trade unions epitomize a “labor aristocracy” has been slow to die. Postmodern studies on African trade unions are based on an algebraic truth: unionized formal wage workers are a small minority in Africa. This quantitative reality does not take into account the qualitative role played by trade unions for African social progress. It is a fact that trade unions continue to be repressed and prohibited in many African realities by employers and governments. Literature on African trade union agency also examines the international dimension. In addition, African trade unions developed and continue to maintain international links with trade unions outside the continent and with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other international organizations. African trade unions have also formed organizations at the continental and regional level.