Ghana Trades Union Congress Explained

Ghana Trades Union Congress
Members:500,000
Location Country:Ghana
Affiliation:ITUC
Key People:Anthony Yaw Baah
Headquarters:Accra, Ghana

The Ghana Trades Union Congress is a national centre that unites various workers' organizations in Ghana.[1] The organization was established in 1945.[2]

History

The GTUC as a central co-ordinating body for 14 union groups in 1945.[2] The unions were registered under the Trade Union Ordinance of 1941. In 1954, the union proposed that the local unions be amalgamated along industrial groupings to make the union strong. The proposal was approved in 1955.[2] The union had 24 member unions in 1958 and was regulated by the Industrial Relations Act 56.[2] The first elections of the GTUC was held in 1966 after Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana was overthrown. The election was conducted to replace the union leaders who were under detention under the National Liberation Council. In 1971, the GTUC was dissolved as the sole trades union congress after parliament, led by the Busia government, passed Act 383. The Act was repealed by the I.K. Acheampong government in the same year. The union's executives were replaced in a "coup d'etat" in 1983 by an Interim Management Committee at the instance of the Association of Local Unions (ALU) of the Greater Accra Region.[2] The union in 1984 held it national congress to restore it existence and restored its constitutionality.

Membership

The membership of the organization is made up of all workers' group. A local union is formed by any five members at a work place. Various local groups which share common objectives form a national group - a local group. The local union upon formally registering with the TUC is admitted as a member of the group.[3]

Functions

The union's functions include:

Affiliates

In 2007, the member strength of the union was about 350,000 members, which had grown to 479,270 by 2018. As of that date, the following unions were affiliated:[4]

Union Abbreviation Founded Membership (1985)[5] Membership (2018)
Cocoa Research Workers' Union CRWU N/A 1,000
Communications Workers' UnionCWU 1958 7,000 2,881[6]
CBMWU 1954 39,553 10,000
Federation of Universities Senior Staff Association of Ghana FUSSAG 1972 2,262
GAWU 1959 100,000 50,000
General Construction, Manufacturing and Quarries Workers' Union GCMQWU N/A 5,167
GTPCWU 1967 29,185 7,500
GMWU 1944 27,018 20,000
GPRTU 1967 56,138 120,000
HSWU 1965 30,000 28,811
LGWU 1956 35,000 10,000
MDU 1956 31,085 10,000
NUSPAW 1940 5,011 1,500
PSWU 1959 63,000 24,000
PUWU 1967 20,000 10,288
Railway Enginemen's Union REU 1951 898 300
RWU 1926 8,955 1,342
TEWU 1962 40,000 60,000
TWU 1952 18,000 8,400
UNICOF 2003 N/A 12,000
UNIWA 2013 N/A 87,000

Former affiliates

Union Abbreviation Left Reason not affiliated Membership (1958)[7]
Accra Municipal Workers' Union 2,800
Agriculture Department Employees' Union 1959 Merged into GAWU 5,958
Airways Workers' Union 98
Amalgamated Civil Engineering and Woodworkers' Union ACEWU
Bank of British West Africa Employees' Union 850
Barclays' Bank Staff Union 121
Cape Coast Municipal Workers' Union 198
Cocoa Purchasing Company Employees' Union 476
Compagnie Français de l'Afrique Occidentale Employees' Union 1,500
Commercial and Allied Workers' Union 1960 Merged into ICU 3,000
Cooks' and Stewards' Union of Western Province 1956 Merged into MDU N/A
Co-operative Movement Union 600
Eastern Province Cooks' and Stewards' Union 1956 Merged into MDU N/A
Elder Dempster Lines Dockworkers' Union 1956 Merged into MDU N/A
Elder Dempster Lines Workers' Union 1956 Merged into MDU N/A
G. B. Ollivant Employees' Union 800
General Engineering Construction Employees' Union Merged into ACEWU N/A
Ghana Broadcasting Employees' Union 1959 Merged into PSWU 507
Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board Employees' Union 30
Ghana Government Electrical Workers' Union 997
Ghana Government Transport Employees' Union 840
Ghana Housing Employees' Union 1956 Merged into CBMWU 184
Ghana Maritime Workers' Union 1956 Merged into MDU N/A
Ghana Masons' Union 1956 Merged into CBMWU 46
Ghana Meteorological Employees' Staff Union 1959 Merged into PSWU 200
Ghana Military Civil Employees' Union 200
Ghana Motor Drivers' Union 1967 Merged into GPRTU 6,236
Ghana Post Office African Employees' Union 1958 Merged into CWU 550
Ghana Societe Commerciale Oriental Afrique Employees' Union 900
Ghana Taxi Drivers' Union 200
GUT 1962 Dissolved 2,349
Ghana Water Works African Employees' Union 508
Gold Coast National Union of Teachers NUT 1956 Merged into GUT N/A
Gold Coast Teachers' Union GCTU 1956 Merged into GUT N/A
Health and General Hospital Workers' Union HGHWU 1964 Merged into HSWU N/A
ICT and General Services Workers Employees' Union N/A
ICU 2003 Disaffiliated N/A
Industrial Development Corporation Employees' Union Merged into ACEWU N/A
Kumasi Municipal Workers' Union 2,453
National Seamen and Dock Workers' Union 1956 Merged into MDU N/A
National Union of Domestic, Restaurant, Bar and Hotel Workers 1,105
National Union of Ghana Oil Workers 800
Postal Engineering Workers' Union 1958 Merged into CWU 1,592
Post and Telegraph Aeradio Employees' Union 100
Public Works Department Employees' Union 18,568
Sekondi Takoradi Municipal Workers' Union 600
Survey Department Employees' Union 296
Taylor Woodrow African Employees' Union Merged into ACEWU N/A
Teamsters' and Private Transport Workers' Union 1962 N/A
Transport and Telecommunications Workers' Union N/A
Union of Catering Trades N/A
Union of Teachers and Educational Institution Workers UTEIW 1962 Dissolved N/A
University College of Ghana Employees' Union 500
West African Cocoa Research Institute Workers' Union 1959 Merged into GAWU 567
West African Graphic Employees' Union 300

International affiliations

The federation affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in the early 1950s, and in 1957, it hosted the founding conference of the ICFTU African Regional Organisation. The country's membership of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the ICFTU's opposition to the TUC spending money on a new Trades Hall building, led the TUC to resign from the ICFTU in 1959. It retained informal links with some ICFTU affiliates, and rejoined the ICFTU in 1966.[8] [9] Today it is affiliated with International Trade Union Confederation, the successor of ICFTU.[10]

The GTUC is affiliated with various international trade union organizations, including the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA).[11]

Leadership

Secretaries-General

1945: Manfred Gaisie

1947: Anthony Woode

1950: Charles Techie-Menson

1952: A. Allotey Moffatt

1953: E. C. Turkson-Ocran

1954: John Kofi Barku Tettegah

1959: Joe-Fio N. Meyer

1960: John Kofi Barku Tettegah

1962: Sylvanus D. Magnus-George (acting)

1964: Kwaw Ampah

1966: Benjamin Bentum

1972: Alhaji Issifu

1982: J. R. Baiden

1982: Interim committee

1983: Augustus Yankey

1993: Christian Appiah-Agyei

2000: Kwasi Adu-Amankwah

2008: Kofi Asamoah

2016: Anthony Yaw Baah

Chairs

1945: Charles Techie-Menson

1948: J. C. Vandyck

1950: J. N. Sam

1952: Larbi Odam

1953: F. E. Techie-Menson

1956: Joe-Fio N. Meyer

1958: D. K. Foevie

1964: Benjamin Bentum

1966:

E. O. Amoah

1983: E. K. Aboagye

1988: Dennis Vormawor

1992: Alex K. Bonney

2012: Georgina Opoku Amankwah

2016: Richard Kwasi Yeboah

2021: Alex Nyarko-Opoku

Notes and References

  1. Web site: GTUC. www.ghanatuc.org. 8 June 2011. 10 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110710185520/http://ghanatuc.org/. live.
  2. Web site: Landmarks . www.ghanatuc.org . 9 June 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110118091327/http://www.ghanatuc.org/historical_landmarks.html . 18 January 2011 .
  3. Web site: Who can be a member . www.ghanatuc.org . 9 June 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110118091232/http://www.ghanatuc.org/who_can_be_a_member.html . 18 January 2011 .
  4. Web site: Labour Market Profile 2020: Ghana . Danish Trade Union Development Agency . 8 July 2021 . 25 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220125005432/https://www.ulandssekretariatet.dk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Ghana_lmp_2020.pdf . live .
  5. Web site: Anyemedu . Kwasi . Trade union responses to globalization: Case study on Ghana . Friedrich Ebert Stiftung . 9 July 2021 . 9 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184758/https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/gurn/00154.pdf . live .
  6. Figure is for 2012: Book: Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Ghana . 2012 . Ghana Trade Union Congress . 10 July 2021 . 10 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210710230549/https://docplayer.net/28544771-Trade-unions-and-industrial-relations-in-ghana.html . live .
  7. Book: Directory of Labour Organizations: Africa . 1958 . United States Department of Labor . Washington DC . 13.1 - 13.13.
  8. Book: Carew . Anthony . The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions . 2000 . Peter Lang . Oxford . 9783906764832 . 579.
  9. Sackeyflo-Lenoch . Naaborko . The Ghana Trades Union Congress and the Politics of International Labor Alliances, 1957–1971 . International Review of Social History . 24 May 2017 . 62 . 2.
  10. Web site: 2012. LIST OF AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS. live. ITUC. 2021-08-28. 2021-08-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20210828012211/https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/no_03_-_list_affiliates_--_010213.pdf.
  11. Web site: About the GTUC . www.ghanatuc.org . 9 June 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110726104534/http://www.ghanatuc.org/aboutus.php . 26 July 2011 .