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1. Independent Trade Unions: Between Political Developments and Internal Factors - Egyptian Case Study 2004-2015

Author:
Shimaa El Sharkawy and Mohamed El Agati
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Egypt has had a long history of trade union action and labour movements, even long before the January 2011 Revolution. It dates back to several periods during the 19th and early 20th centuries and is marked by mass and diverse union movements, despite various attempts by the State to quell it. However, the movement at times did indeed succumb to the wide control of the State through an institutional framework. As such, the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) was founded in 1957 and was followed by long and significant periods of struggle.1 It is also important to note that the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS) was founded in 1990 by labour leaders who strongly believed in the independence of trade unions. These leaders were born out of the Egyptian Labour Movement, which prospered in the late 1980s outside of the official trade union structure, following the 1986 railway workers strike, and the 1989 iron and steelworkers strike.2 This paper aims to highlight the internal problems that face independent trade unions. It is primarily referring to the trade unions independent from the state-controlled ETUF and explores their activity from 2004 up until 2015. This contemporary period also includes major milestones that have affected independent unions in the Arab world’s most populous country.
Topic:
Politics, Labor Issues, Trade Unions, and Labor Unions
Political Geography:
Africa and Egypt

2. Algeria: Independent Unions and the Stalled Democratic Transition

Author:
Nacer Djabi
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
This analysis starts by providing a brief historical overview of Algeria’s trade union experience. It considers the movement’s historical depth, doctrinal foundations, and significant milestones. It then explores the conditions that contributed to the rise of independent unions in their earliest form, as well as their evolution over time in terms of demands, labour rules, and utilized methods of expressing demands – such as prolonged and recurrent strikes. The study also examines the relationships between unions and official political institutions, which directly introduced roles assumed by skilled middle-class workers during a time of political and socio-economic turmoil. This situation has raised concerns from middle-class Algerians, who have become accustomed to the comfort zone and protection of the rentier national state and have therefore turned to union action – a novelty for the middle class. Since Algeria’s independence, skilled middle-class groups have acted as a “political force” and a sizeable part of the regime’s social base within national state institutions. Their union, party, and administrative experiences were fundamental to state bureaucracy. These groups also promoted ideological propaganda from within official educational, religious, and media structures they monopolized. They were empowered by their education and command of the Arabic and French languages in a society that suffered from illiteracy in the first years following independence. However, when more factions of Algerian society became educated, these groups lost some of their functions and advantages.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Democracy, Unions, and Trade Unions
Political Geography:
Africa and Algeria

3. A Brief History of South Africa’s Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (1919-1931)

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
The Industrial & Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) – a trade union, rural peasant movement, and urban squatters’ movement – formed on the docks in Cape Town in 1919. Within a decade, the ICU had expanded across Southern Africa without regard for national borders and counted people from various African countries and the Caribbean in its leadership, as well as people who were Indian and mixed race. The largely forgotten history of the ICU is well worth recovering in a time of escalating chauvinism and xenophobia. Our Dossier #20 offers an introduction to this extraordinary popular movement.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, Labor Issues, Trade Unions, and Labor Unions
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

4. Discrimination and Favouritism Among Workers: Union Membership and Ethnic Identity

Author:
Chiara Ravetti, Mare Sarr, Tim Swanson, and Daniel Munene
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
This paper analyses how labour institutions and ethnic identity shape favouritism and discrimination among workers. We conduct an experiment with union and non-union South African mineworkers from various ethnicities. We examine in-group and out-group behaviour, emphasizing the relative ranking of these groups and their interaction. We find that unions create both in-group and out-group favouritism towards co-ethnic members and members of ethnic majorities. This favouritism is however undermined by unionised subcontract workers who experience precarious conditions. Furthermore, union members discriminate against non-unionised ethnic minorities. Finally, non-union members (primarily subcontract workers) discriminate against union members, particularly after negative shocks.
Topic:
Ethnicity, Discrimination, Mining, Labor Market, and Trade Unions
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa