Trade unions in Benin operate in relative freedom, with approximately 75% of the formal sector being

unionized A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. There are, however, concerns expressed by the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO) and the

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); german: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB), link=no; es, Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), link=no. is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation w ...

(ITUC) about the discrepancies between the government's Labour Code and the labour practices outlined by ILO Conventions 87 (

Freedom of Association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...

) and 98 ( Right to Organize) - specifically the right of unions to form without government approval, the right of seafarers to organize or strike, and restrictions on strikes.

History

During the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

era from 1972 to 1990, the trade union movement was organized in line with the professed

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

Leninist Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishm ...

principles of the

People's Revolutionary Party of Benin The People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (french: Parti de la Révolution Populaire du Bénin) was a political party in the People's Republic of Benin. It was founded in 1975 by General Mathieu Kérékou. With the new constitution of 30 November ...

(PRPB). However, with the shift to a multi-party democracy in the 1990s, the trade union movement split into various entities.

National bodies

There are three main

national trade union center A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

s in Benin. The

National Union of the Unions of the Workers of Benin The National Union of the Unions of the Workers of Benin (UNSTB) was, from its founding in 1974 until the 1990s, the sole union federation in Benin. It was originally closely related to the People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (PRPB). The UNSTB ...

(UNSTB) was the sole trade union organization during the rule of the PRPB, having absorbed all former trade unions in 1974. The

Autonomous Trade Unions Centre The Autonomous Trade Unions Centre is a trade union centre in Benin. It has a membership of 20,000 and is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. It also works with the National Union of the Unions of the Workers of Benin. S ...

(CSA) formed with the rise of the multi-party system, and amid fears that the UNSTB would be unable to separate itself from the previous political powers. The third trade union center is the

General Confederation of the Workers of Benin The General Confederation of the Workers of Benin (CGTB) is a trade union centre in Benin. It is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. See also * Trade unions in Benin Trade unions in Benin operate in relative freedom, ...

Trade union concerns

Although Benin has ratified a number of the ILO "core conventions", there are notable deficiencies in the application of labour practices as espoused by the labour movement. In particular a 2004 report by ITCU (previously ICFTU) draws attention to the lack of

women's equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

in the workforce, the use of

child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

, and the ongoing problem of

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

References

{{Africa in topic, Trade unions in Human rights in Benin