Africa: Workers central to solving Africa’s problems

The problems facing Africa won't be solved without the involvement of African workers and their trade unions, the UK's Trade Union Congress (TUC) said as it released its submission to the Government's Commission for Africa. In the submission - 'Social Partnership for Africa', the TUC argued that without trade unions 'civil society will never function properly, and the role of the African peoples will remain that of the passive observer or object of social progress'. Using examples drawn from the African trade union movement (which numbers some 12.3 million union members in 56 national trade unions), the TUC criticised the Commission for paying 'too little attention to the role that social partnership, social dialogue and decent work can play'.