National organization(s) | SLLC |
---|---|
Regulatory authority | Ministry of Labour and Social Security |
Primary legislation | Employment Act 2023 |
Total union membership | 354,747 (2022) [1] |
Trade union density | 13% (2022) [1] |
Global Rights Index | |
4 Systematic violations of rights | |
International Labour Organization | |
Sierra Leone is a member of the ILO | |
Convention ratification | |
Freedom of Association | 15 June 1961 |
Right to Organise | 13 June 1961 |
Trade unions in Sierra Leone first emerged in the period around World War I, with reports indicating that civil servants organised unions as early as 1912. [2] The Railway Workers Union was founded in 1919. [3] In the late 1930s, trade unions affiliated to the Youth League formed the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to coordinate actions within the labour movement. [4] In 1940, trade unions were legalised. [5] In 1946 tripartite bargaining councils were established that incorporated trade unions for minimum wage and sectoral bargaining with employers. [6] The Sierra Leone Labour Congress (SLLC) was founded in 1976. Although the country's civil war at the end of the 20th Century had a devastating effect on the labour movement, [7] unions played an important role in nonviolent resistance, launching a national strike in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 coup by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. [8] Since the end of the civil war, trade unionism in the informal sector has grown. [9]
Members | CBAs | CBA coverage | |
---|---|---|---|
Artisans Public Works of Services Employees Union | 2,600 | 6 | 12,000 |
Clerical Banking Insurance Accounting Petroleum Union | 3,010 | 7 | 15,000 |
Construction Workers Union | 2,500 | 1 | 8,000 |
Electricity Employees Union | 2,200 | 1 | 20,000 |
Hotel Food Drinks Tobacco Entertainment Workers Unions | 580 | 2 | 14,000 |
Union of Mass Media, Financial Institutions, Chemical Industries & General Workers | 1,500 | 2 | 13,000 |
Maritime & Waterfront Workers Union | 1,500 | 2 | 13,000 |
Municipal & General Government Employees Union | 1,000 | 2 | 3,000 |
National Union of Civil Servants | 1,500 | 1 | 8,000 |
National Union of Forestry & Agricultural Workers | 1,500 | 3 | 8,000 |
Sierra Leone Fishermen's Union | 1,600 | 1 | 3,000 |
Sierra Leone Dockworkers Union | 1,500 | 1 | 4,000 |
Sierra Leone Health Services Union | 4,000 | 1 | 16,000 |
Sierra Leone National Seamen's Union | 1,550 | 1 | 1,500 |
Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union | 36,000 | 1 | 40,000 |
Sierra Leone Union of Postal & Telecommuncations Employees Union | 1,054 | 1 | 2,500 |
Sierra Leone Reporter Union | 450 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Union of Security, Watchmen & General Workers | 3,200 | 2 | 5,000 |
Skilled & Manual Productive Workers Union | 810 | 4 | 1,300 |
United Mine Workers Union | 1,602 | 1 | 6,000 |
Union of Railway Plantation, Minerals, Industry & Construction | 300 | 1 | 1,000 |
Sierra Leone Port Authority Senior Staff Association | 82 | – | – |
Members | CBAs | CBA coverage | |
---|---|---|---|
Indigenous Petty Traders Association | 55,000 | – | – |
Indigenous Photographers’ Union | 1,000 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Artisanal Fishermen's Union | 17,106 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Traders Union | 105,000 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Musicians Union | 500 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Bike Riders Union | 120,000 | – | – |
Motor Drivers & General Transport Workers Union | 50,000 | 1 | 1,000 |
Union of Timber Factory Owners & Workers | 1,237 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Commercial Tricycle Riders Union | 700 | – | – |
Sierra Leone Technicians Union | 700 | – | – |
Home and General Workers Union | 1,500 | – | – |
Omolankay Whellbarrow & Porters Union | 1,000 | – | – |
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia, and the northern half of the nation is surrounded by Guinea. Covering a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with diverse environments ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. Freetown is the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are subdivided into 16 districts.
Sierra Leone first became inhabited by indigenous African peoples at least 2,500 years ago. The Limba were the first tribe known to inhabit Sierra Leone. The dense tropical rainforest partially isolated the region from other West African cultures, and it became a refuge for peoples escaping violence and jihads. Sierra Leone was named by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra, who mapped the region in 1462. The Freetown estuary provided a good natural harbour for ships to shelter and replenish drinking water, and gained more international attention as coastal and trans-Atlantic trade supplanted trans-Saharan trade.
Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson was a Sierra Leonean, British West African workers' leader, journalist, activist and politician.
Desmond Edgar Fashole Luke was a former politician and lawyer in Sierra Leone. Luke served as foreign minister (1973–75), Minister of Health (1977–78), and ambassador to the West Germany (1969–73), France (1971–73) and the European Economic Community (1971–73) at various points in his political career. Luke competed in the 1996 presidential election against several other candidates, eventually losing to current President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah after only receiving 1.1% of the vote in the initial round of voting. In March 1998, Luke was appointed to replace Samuel Beccles-Davies as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Luke retired from that position in 2002. He was an alumnus of Cambridge University and Oxford University. Luke was a strong supporter of Kabbah's government-in-exile after the 1997 coup by Johnny Paul Koroma.
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