Irreconcilable Differences – Union Organizing in the Informal Sector in Ghana

Abstract

The informal sector is expanding in developing countries while the formal sector is shrinking. The loss of employees through workforce reduction strategies has adversely affected trade union membership in Ghana. To make up for the loss of members, the trade unions recruit the informal workers into their fold. Using in-depth interviews, this study explores trade union organisation of informal workers and the suitability of these forms of organisation within the informal sector in Ghana. The results indicate that formal trade unions are desperately adopting traditional methods and structures to organise informal workers into their fold without success. There is therefore the need for the informal workers to self-organise and for the trade unions to create streams of membership for affiliation.

International entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: interfirm coordination and local economy dynamics in the informal economy

“…Nonetheless, the informal enterprises we studied have fixed and visible premises and rely on apprentices as their main employees (Lamptey and Debrah, 2019). They are open businesses regarded as legitimate by other firms and most state institutions (Sowatey et al.…”

“…In this light, we adapted Andrews and Higson's (2008) business knowledge comprising hard and soft business-related knowledge and skills. Firm size is measured as the logarithm of the Informal firm internationalization number of workers, including apprentices (Ghana Statistical Services, 2015;Lamptey and Debrah, 2019). We focused on these control variables because it is difficult to isolate an (informal) entrepreneurial firm from the characteristics of the entrepreneur who founded it and contributes to its development over time.…”

“…Similarly, elaborating on the study by Mayer et al (1995), Godfrey (2011) states that "informality allows joint purposes and goals to coalesce slowly and facilitates the type of interpersonal understandings that build trust and mutual reliance" (p. 268). The network interface involves interactions between informal firms or trade associations representing the different informal crafts and skills-based groups (Lamptey and Debrah, 2019). Rogerson (2001) emphasizes that many interfirm cooperative actions have arisen in African enterprise clusters with little or no assistance from the government.…”

“…(1995), Godfrey (2011) states that “informality allows joint purposes and goals to coalesce slowly and facilitates the type of interpersonal understandings that build trust and mutual reliance” (p. 268). The network interface involves interactions between informal firms or trade associations representing the different informal crafts and skills-based groups (Lamptey and Debrah, 2019).…”

Understanding internationalisation of informal African firms through a network perspective

“…Most do not contribute social security payments. However, they have fixed and visible premises and rely on apprentices as their principal employees (Lamptey and Debrah, 2020). Thus, they are public businesses considered legitimate by other firms and most government institutions (Sowatey et al, 2018: 337).…”