[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Eddie Webster on African labour politics

[Patrick Bond]

(Sorry about bad formatting.)

Global Trade Union Program
International Trade Union Cooperation
BRIEFING PAPERS
N° 3 / 2007

TRADE UNIONS AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN AFRICA:
NEW ALLIANCES, STRATEGIES AND PARTNERSHIPS1
By Edward Webster

Trade unions in Africa have a long tradition of political engagement, 
beginning with their involvement in the
anti-colonial movements through to present day struggles for democracy. 
Their historical engagement in
politics has been divided into three phases. The fi rst phase was marked 
by a common struggle against colonialism
where close ties were developed between trade unions and the national 
liberation movements. Trade
unions, while being important actors, usually played the role of junior 
partners to political parties, without
developing an autonomous social agenda outside and beyond the struggle 
for political independence.

The second phase begins with independence and the
introduction of state-led projects which rapidly
expanded jobs in the public sector. During this phase
formal union rights were often protected in theory
but in practice unions were subordinated to dominant
parties, losing an autonomous capacity to intervene
politically. Instead unions were expected to play a
dualistic role: fi rst, that of aiding with overall national
development, and second, the representation of
the job interests of the rank and fi le members. The
argument for this reversal of the primary role of
unions to be developmental rather than representational
was based on the government belief that
trade unions only represent a proportion of the labour
force of these countries.
A third phase, the phase of market regulation, began
in the nineties. Faced by widespread state indebtedness
incurred during the seventies and eighties, governments
during this phase came under pressure from
the International Financial Institutions to adjust their
budgets in line with the neo-liberal orthodoxy of
fi scal austerity. Widespread job losses took place
under these Structural Adjustment Programmes and
most unions sought to disengage from the state-corporatist
order which seemed to have lost its capacity
to deliver. As trade unions began to resist retrenchments,
cuts in wages, privatisation, and the deterioration
of social services, the labour movement emerged
as a signifi cant opponent of the one-party states
that had come to characterise post-colonial Africa.

International Trade Union Cooperation
A crucial part of the demands of these unions was for
greater autonomy as well as infl uence on the direction
of government policies. Indeed, unions have been at
the centre of the widespread challenges to authoritarian
governments throughout contemporary Africa.
Thus, paradoxically, in spite of their weakness, unions
are often feared by post-colonial governments.
To examine this changing relationship between the
trade union movement and political parties we take
a comparative approach to union-party relations in
four regions of the continent, namely, Southern
Africa, East Africa, West Africa and North Africa.
Three questions on the relationship between trade
unions and political parties have to be raised:
• How can unions advance their political infl uence
while simultaneously protecting their autonomy?
• More specifi cally, how successful have unions been
in advancing autonomy and infl uence when they
are closely allied to national political parties?
• Are alternative ways of infl uencing politics emerging?

KEY FINDINGS
In looking at seven country studies (see footnote on
Page 1 and list of countries in table), several conclusions
emerge.
Despite the seemingly universal trend during this
phase of market regulation toward a ‘loosening’ of
union-party alliances, we can identify considerable
variation across the seven cases with respect to both
the extent and the nature of the relationship between
unions and politics. While the proportion of the
population in formal wage employment remains small
and diminishing, unions remain a political force to
be reckoned with. Unlike advocacy groups and NGOs,
their membership base and strategic location in the
economy, especially in transport and key public ser-
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Briefi ng Papers N° 3 / 2007
vices, gives them the capacity to mobilise and disrupt
on a country-wide basis. Also, unlike advocacy groups,
trade unions are not issue based. As a result organised
labour is capable of offering voice and leadership to
a wide range of popular forces.
But this does not mean that trade unions are surrogate
political parties. Nor is labour necessarily capable of
building a parliamentary constituency of its own.
Instead, the combination of global forces and internal
struggles in post-colonial Africa, are leading to a reconceptualisation
of labour’s historic relationship
with governing political parties opening up opportunities
for new alliances, strategies and partnerships.
This reconfi guration of union-party relationships is
illustrated in the four ideal types in the table on top
of the next Page.
1. The traditional client model
Being historically part of the nationalist camp, many
unions continue to be closely allied to nationalist
political parties. Both Senegal and Egypt fall into
this category.
In Senegal each party on the ‘Left’ has had its own
affi liated trade unions, although the defeat of the
ruling Socialist Party at the polls in 2000 accelerated
a move towards greater union autonomy. In Senegal
intense debates have emerged within the labour
movement around how best to infl uence government
policy: Should they fi ght from a basis of greater
union unity and autonomy or should they seek party
political alliances to ensure better access to policy
makers?
In some cases, as in Egypt, unions remain incor porated
into authoritarian ruling party structures, deprived
of both autonomy and infl uence. But evidence is
available that the client relationship with the ruling
party has led to workers’ grievances and concerns
being expressed at enterprise level. This has resulted
in frequent informal stoppages and the emergence of
networks of activists along side the offi cial structures.
Relation Trade Union – Political Party Countries
Traditional client model:
Labour remains a client of the ruling party. Egypt, Senegal
Divorce: Labour moves out of the alliance and forms
its own party as part of the opposition. This either fails
to take place, as in the case of Nigeria, or in the case
of Zambia and Zimbabwe, labour initiates a political
party but stands back once it is formed.
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria
Unhappy marriage: Labour has an uneasy alliance
with the ruling party. In South Africa unions are not
directly represented in parliament while in Uganda
unions elect MPs to parliament but they are not
accountable to the unions.
Abstinence: Labour withdraws from party politics
and a multiparty democracy is created. Trade unions
play a leading role in civil society.

Unions in Zimbabwe are a case in point. Although
instrumental in the formation in 1999 of the oppositional
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
is not part of it. The multi-class basis of the MDC is
refl ected in its ideological outlook which is largely
supportive of liberalisation of the economy. The
Zimbabwean government has sought to undermine
the ZCTU, both through arresting, detaining and
harassing its leadership, as well as by encouraging
and funding rival ‘suitcase unions’. However in spite
of hostility to the ZCTU, the federation remains
committed to social dialogue through participation
in the Tripartite Negotiating Forum in an attempt to
stabilise society and the economy. The challenge
facing the ZCTU is to balance this dual agenda of
defending itself against violent harassment and intimidation
while trying to seek social dialogue with
employers and government.
2. Divorce from the nationalist alliance
and formation of an oppositional labour
party
To some the formation of a ‘Labour Party’ directly
linked to the trade union movement is assumed to
be the ‘natural’ means by which unions can infl uence
politics, not the least in view of the European experience
of a strong link between social democratic
and communist parties and the organised labour
movement. However the evidence from our case
studies is that the African experience is different;
while attempts by labour to form a political party
have taken place in Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Zambia,
they have not led to enduring relationships neither
has the state being willing to tolerate such a relationship.
In Nigeria, a long tradition of union political involvement
has generated a succession of unsuccessful
‘Labour Parties’. Since the return of civil rule in 1999,
there have been repeated confrontations with the
state where the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has
demonstrated a wide popular following, especially
over the pricing of local petroleum products. It has
failed, however, to transform its undoubted political
clout into effective parliamentary involvement.
3. Unhappy marriage where labour retains
an uneasy alliance with the governing
party
In the South African case the leading union federation,
the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU), is aligned to the ruling party, but retains
considerable autonomy and infl uence. Contrary to
constant speculation that this Alliance is about to
break up, research among COSATU members reveals
that they continue to show strong support for the
Triple Alliance, the ruling African National Congress
(ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP),
and COSATU. Although COSATU is in a uniquely
strong position in the continent, it does share its
problems with unions elsewhere where a unionbacked
government has come to power and has implemented
neo-liberal economic and social policies.
It is also experiencing the informalisation of work,
making it imperative for unions to reach out both to
the wider population of workers and to the organisations
in civil society outside the ANC camp.
In Uganda the trade union leadership retain an alliance
with the governing Museveni regime and seats are
reserved for trade unions in parliament. But unions
lack autonomy and the parliamentarians are compelled
to toe the government line. The result is the
emergence of a patron-client relationship between
the governing party and the union representatives.
A feature of Uganda was the recent introduction of
more progressive labour laws as a condition of the
African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a pre -
ferential trading arrangement. Interestingly, these
changes were not the result of local union pressure
but pressure from the United States government for
the recognition of international labour standards.
4. Abstinence: In Ghana unions have
explicitly disengaged from party politics
The policy of non-association was adopted in 1992
and incorporated into the constitution of the Ghana
Trade Union Congress (GTUC). This decision was
taken partly from past experience with Nkrumah’s
Convention Peoples Party (CPP) but also arising from
unsuccessful attempts by the GTUC to form a party
of its own. Although the GTUC has not succeeded in
shifting government policies from its neoliberal direction,
they have taken the lead in civil society and
succeeded in stopping the privatisation of water. By
not aligning with a political party labour has been
able to win public space. This is in contrast to those
unions which have tried to form an oppositional
party; and to those unions which are subordinated
to the ruling party, as exists in the client model.
It is worth noting that in South Africa both the Federation
of Democratic Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA)
and the National Council of Trade Unions
(NACTU) are also politically non-aligned.
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS
What are the political implications of these fi ndings?
I would identify four:
• In the era of market regulation it is necessary to
rethink the historic alliances that have existed
between labour and political parties.
Trade unions in post colonial Africa have, until recently,
tended to rely on their alliances with ruling
parties in trying to infl uence public policy. This preoccupation
with political parties has, for example, led
to the divisive involvement of COSATU in the debate
on who is to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as the
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung International Trade Union Cooperation Briefi ng 
Papers N° 3 / 2007
President of South Africa. This close identifi cation of
union leaders with specifi c camps has split unions,
and the federation as a whole, down the middle. Many
affi liates are divided into two camps and are unable
to get on with the core activities of a union because
of a breakdown of trust between union leaders.
The evidence from the country studies is that unions
in Africa are rethinking their approach to politics, a
rethink in which unions rely less on their alliance
with the ruling party – what could be called a political
alliance – to a focus on building coalitions with
other organisations in civil society, such as women’s
organisations, organisations of the self employed,
NGOs and informal economy organisations. I would
distinguish such horizontal alliances, or social alliances,
from the vertical, or political alliances, between
unions and governing parties. From this perspective,
political engagement is not reducible to party political
affi liation. Indeed, if labour’s autonomy with respect
to political parties is a concern, then alliances
with civil society organisations can provide an alternative
way of engaging in political activity.
It is clear from the experience of the formation of the
MDC in Zimbabwe and the Movement for Multi party
Democracy (MMD) in Zambia, that forming a political
party is a diffi cult choice to make. In the Zambian
case the unions have been disappointed with the
performance of the MMD in government and have
been dumped by the government they helped to bring
into power. In both Zambia and Zimbabwe the unions
withdrew once they had helped establish these parties.
• Labour has the capacity to blunt neo-liberal poli -
cies but is not able to present an alternative set of
economic and social policies.
What is clear from all seven case studies is that labour
in Africa, as in countries world-wide, does not have
the capacity or the programmatic vision to provide
an alternative to this phase of market driven politics.
At best we were able to identify examples of where
labour has been able to blunt neo-liberal policies, as
in the case of Ghana over water privatisation, or in
South Africa where the transport union was able to
prevent the privatisation of the railways. But in large
part labour is involved in defensive politics where its
interventions have no impact on the macroeconomic
policies that underpin the neo-liberal paradigm.
Given the strength that capital now wields in the
global economy it makes sense to develop a multipronged
approach to the sources of power that labour
can draw on. In addition to traditional sources of
power – workplace bargaining and social dialogue –
there is a need to identify the new sources of power
that have emerged in the global economy. This involves
an extension of links in a horizontal direction
to the community as well as drawing on international
pressure such as codes of conduct to promote fair
labour standards or, more centrally, on the commodity
chains that link Africa to the global economy.
Value chain analysis has the potential to ground the
development of unions in the real world of working
people. It offers the opportunity to understand better
how workers at different points in the chain of production
may have different access to a ‘ladder of
protection’. Conventional value chain analysis can
be broadened and enriched to include what has been
called a ‘labour benefi t approach’.
• Labour has, and continues to play, a central role
in the struggle for democracy in Africa.
Unlike established democracies, post-colonial African
countries are engaged in the complex task of nationbuilding
and economic reconstruction. As a result, a
very distinct culture of ‘us’ and ‘them’ develops,
where by people are accepted as ‘one of us’ (a comrade
or a veteran) on the basis of their commitment to
national liberation. Those who oppose the government
become ‘the enemy’ or even ‘counter-revolutionaries’.
In other words, the margins of tolerance
are much lower in such situations as democracy has
not been consolidated. The result is, as the Zimbabwean
case illustrates, not institutionalized opposition
by the MDC and its trade union counterpart, the
ZCTU, but open and violent confrontation with a
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung International Trade Union Cooperation Briefi ng 
Papers N° 3 / 2007
union-backed opposition becoming the focus of
organised violence by the Zimbabwean state.
However, the existence of strong trade unions has
historically been central to the creation of a democratic
order. Labour in Africa, as was the case in Europe
and North America, has been at the forefront of the
struggle to maintain democratic institutions and
democratic rule. Vibrant militant independent trade
unions, it can be argued, are the most important
bulwark against authoritarianism. Furthermore, after
a long period of little new investment in Africa, recent
years has seen the growth of investment, and more
controversially, the dramatic increase in Chinese
investment in Africa. And where capital invests, labour
follows, including struggles around the recognition
of trade union rights and democratic rule.
• Labour needs to develop new partnerships with
research entities and universities to engage and
contest the neo-liberal ideas that have become the
dominant paradigm in the International Finan cial
Institutions.
The power of labour does not only lie in its strategic
location in the workplace and its capacity to mobilise
and organise, but also in the power of ideas and its
ability to present ideas that challenge market-driven
development and provide alternatives that point
towards a more labour friendly global order. There is
evidence that the labour movement is beginning to
connect more directly with research entities and the
universities to start to develop alternatives. Both labour
and universities have tended to approach each other
in rather instrumental ways; labour when it needs
research to support its campaigns and researchers
when they need access and support for their funding
proposals. But a true partnership rests on reciprocity
and a willingness to learn from each other.
The Global Labour University (GLU) and the Global
University Research Network (GURN) are examples
of new partnerships between educational institutions
and workers’ organisations that could form a joint
global learning, research and discussion network.
These partnerships aim to engage with trade unions
and universities to develop new university curricula
that broaden the debate and knowledge base of
labour issues in universities2.


1 The article is a summary of the debates during a conference on “Trade 
Unions and Politics: Africa in a comparative context”, jointly organised in
Johannesburg on July 21-22, 2006 by the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP) at 
the University of the Witwatersrand, the Institute of Development
Studies (IDS), University of Zimbabwe, the Politics of Development Group 
at Stockholm University and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. The conference
brought together African scholars and union activists.
I would also like to acknowledge Bjorn Beckman’s report on this 
conference in the November 2006 Newsletter of RC44, the Research Committee
on Labour Movements for the International Sociological Association. The 
organisers of the conference, Professor Bjorn Beckman, Sakhela Buhlungu
and Lloyd Sachikonye will be publishing selected papers from this 
conference in a forthcoming edited manuscript.
2 The conference on Unions and Parties: Africa in Comparative 
Perspective was an important step in this direction. It provided a forum 
for scholars
and researchers to share information, concepts and theories with the 
lived experience of those engaged in formulating and implementing the
tactics and strategies that ultimately will determine whether a strong 
democratic labour movement is built in Africa.

About the author:
Edward Webster is Professor of Sociology and Co-
Director of the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP), School
of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg

Additional literature:
Buhlungu, S. (ed.), Trade unions and democracy:
COSATU members political attitudes. University of
KWA-ZULU Press: Durban, 2006.
Beckman, B. and L. Sachikonye (eds.), Labour regimes
and liberalization in Africa. University of Zimbabwe
Press, 2002.
Adler, G. and E. Webster (eds.), Trade unions and democratisation
in South Africa. St. Martins Press: New
York/McMillan’s Press: London, 2000.
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung International Trade Union Cooperation Briefi ng 
Papers N° 3 / 2007
Further Briefi ng Papers:
N° 1/2007
International Trade Union Movement: Mergers and Contradictions
by Rudolf Traub-Merz and Jürgen Eckl
Published as well in German, French and Spanish.
N° 2/2007
The ILO’s campaign to build universal social security coverage
by Assane Diop
International Labour Offi ce
Published as well in German.
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Internationale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, 
Globale Gewerkschaftspolitik
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Trade Union Program
Godesberger Allee 149, 53175 Bonn, Fax: 0228 883-575
Sie fi nden die Kurzberichte zum Herunterladen auf 
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To download the briefi ng papers please use: 
http://www.fes.de/gewerkschaften
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Lisette Klöppel, Tel. 0228 883-517, e-mail: Lisette.Kloeppel at fes.de
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