Trade Union and the Informal Sector in Africa: Cameroon

Abstract

Recent history of the trade union in Africa highlights the fact that they are progressively interested in organising the informal sector for various reasons. But the congenital characteristics of the informal economy can appear as challenges to overcome. The purpose of this paper is then to analyze the relationship between trade union and the informal sector in Africa, focusing on Cameroon but also in countries where data and studies are available. In order to do this, statistical figures and analytical development are used to proceed in two steps. The first analyzes trade union and informality to check how unions can avoid the forgetting trap as far as informality is concerned. The idea is to discuss about the modalities of the organisation of the informal economy and to assess how the challenges of women and child labour organisations are considered by traditional trade unions. The second step is then to present how informal sector tries to take care of itself and to analyze the trade-off between conventional trade union behaviours and what can be considered as “informal unionisation” in terms of competition versus complementarity. Indeed one may suspect some tension between trade unions and the will of informal employers and informal employees to organise themselves.