Trade unions in Sierra Leone

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Trade unions in Sierra Leone
National organization(s) SLLC
Regulatory authority Ministry of Labour and Social Security
Primary legislationEmployment Act 2023
Total union membership354,747 (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]

Contents

Existing unions

Collective Bargaining Agreements - Formal Sector (2022) [10]
MembersCBAsCBA

coverage

Artisans Public Works of Services Employees Union2,600612,000
Clerical Banking Insurance Accounting Petroleum Union3,010715,000
Construction Workers Union2,50018,000
Electricity Employees Union2,200120,000
Hotel Food Drinks Tobacco Entertainment Workers Unions580214,000
Union of Mass Media, Financial Institutions, Chemical Industries & General Workers1,500213,000
Maritime & Waterfront Workers Union1,500213,000
Municipal & General Government Employees Union1,00023,000
National Union of Civil Servants1,50018,000
National Union of Forestry & Agricultural Workers1,50038,000
Sierra Leone Fishermen's Union1,60013,000
Sierra Leone Dockworkers Union1,50014,000
Sierra Leone Health Services Union4,000116,000
Sierra Leone National Seamen's Union1,55011,500
Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union36,000140,000
Sierra Leone Union of Postal & Telecommuncations Employees Union1,05412,500
Sierra Leone Reporter Union450––
Sierra Leone Union of Security, Watchmen & General Workers3,20025,000
Skilled & Manual Productive Workers Union81041,300
United Mine Workers Union1,60216,000
Union of Railway Plantation, Minerals, Industry & Construction30011,000
Sierra Leone Port Authority Senior Staff Association82––
Collective Bargaining Agreements - Informal Sector (2022) [10]
MembersCBAsCBA

coverage

Indigenous Petty Traders Association55,000––
Indigenous Photographers’ Union1,000––
Sierra Leone Artisanal Fishermen's Union17,106––
Sierra Leone Traders Union105,000––
Sierra Leone Musicians Union500––
Sierra Leone Bike Riders Union120,000––
Motor Drivers & General Transport Workers Union50,00011,000
Union of Timber Factory Owners & Workers1,237––
Sierra Leone Commercial Tricycle Riders Union700––
Sierra Leone Technicians Union700––
Home and General Workers Union1,500––
Omolankay Whellbarrow & Porters Union1,000––

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References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 DTDA 2023, p. 7.
  2. ↑ Orr 1966, p. 66.
  3. ↑ Amolo 1979, p. 37.
  4. ↑ Conway 1968, p. 61.
  5. ↑ Hotchkiss 1979, p. 439.
  6. ↑ Luke 1985a, p. 439.
  7. ↑ Stirling 2013, p. 536.
  8. ↑ Press 2015, pp. 105–148.
  9. ↑ McDermott 2023.
  10. 1 2 DTDA 2023, p. 30.

Sources

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  • Abdullah, Ibrahim (August 1995). ""Liberty or Death": Working Class Agitation and the Labour Question in Colonial Freetown, 1938–1939". International Review of Social History. 40 (2): 195–221. doi: 10.1017/S0020859000113203 .
  • Abdullah, Ibrahim (1997). "The Colonial State and Wage Labor in Postwar Sierra Leone, 1945–1960: Attempts at Remaking the Working Class". International Labor and Working-Class History. 52: 87–105. doi:10.1017/S0147547900006955.
  • Amman, John; O’Donnell, James (2011). "The Sierra Leone Teachers Union: Labor in a Post-Conflict Society". WorkingUSA. 14 (1): 57–71. doi:10.1111/j.1743-4580.2011.00320.x. ISSN   1089-7011.
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  • Stirling, John (19 December 2013). "Power in practice: Trade union education in Sierra Leone". McGill Journal of Education / Revue des sciences de l'éducation de McGill. 48 (3): 531–550. ISSN   1916-0666.
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