Organising as a catalyst for improving work conditions among informal quarry workers in Ghana

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.16.2.0059
• Published date: 17 October 2022
• Date: 17 October 2022
• Pages: 59-81
• Author: Moses Segbenya,Angela D. Akorsu,Francis Enu-Kwesi,Debdulal Saha
• Subject Matter: Organising,informal workers,quarry workers,challenges,decent work conditions

Work organisation, labour & globalisation Volume 16, Number 2, 2022 59

Organising as a catalyst for improving

work conditions among informal quarry

workers in Ghana

Moses Segbenya, Angela D. Akorsu, Francis Enu-Kwesi

and Debdulal Saha

Moses Segbenya is a Lecturer in the Department of

Business Studies at the College of Distance Education,

University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Angela Dziedzom Akorsu is an Associate Professor of

Labour and Gender and the Dean of the School for

Development Studies at the College of Humanities and

Legal Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Francis Enu-Kwesi is an Associate Professor of

Development Studies in the School for Development

Studies at the College of Humanities and Legal Studies,

University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Debdulal Saha is an Assistant Professor of Economics in

the Department of HSS at the Indian Institute of Science

Education & Research (IISER), NagarPunjab, India.

ABSTRACT

Organising has been suggested as one way to achieve decent working

conditions among informal workers. This study examines how informal workers

in Ghana are using organising as a catalyst for improving their working

conditions. The study adopted an exploratory qualitative research design, using

interviews, focus group discussions, documentary review and observation.

Qualitative interpretative analysis methods were used to analyse the data. The

study found that welfare-based organisations served as a catalyst for trade

union organising among quarry workers. Despite the challenges confronting

them in organising, informal quarry workers were able to improve their

working conditions through a collective agreement with management. Specic

indicators of work improvement included appointment letters for job security,

hours of work and overtime, wages and salary (compensation), and training and

DOI:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.16.2.0059

60 Work organisation, labour & globalisation Volume 16, Number 2, 2022

development of workers to enhance their skills and competencies. The study

concluded that organising informal workers served as a catalyst for ensuring

decent working conditions among quarry workers in Ghana. This leads to the

recommendation that formal trade unions organising in the quarrying districts

should be resourced to be able to organise informal quarry workers in the stone

quarry sub-sector of Ghana to achieve decent work conditions for informal

workers in Ghana.

KEY WORDS

Organising, informal workers, quarry workers, challenges, decent work

conditions

Introduction

Workers’ organisation, also sometimes referred to as collective identity, has been

identified in the literature as a tool for equalising the structural power vested in the

employer (Akorsu & Odoi, 2017; Segbenya, 2019, Segbenya et al., 2022). In this context

the term ‘workers organisations’ relates to any formal or informal grouping of workers

at the organisational, enterprise or national level (Britwum & Akorsu, 2017;

Saha, 2017). Organising, either in the formal or informal organisational forms, is

important for both formal and informal workers (Segbenya, 2019). The role of workers’

organisation among informal workers is relevant for increasing the global labour

movement’s membership, political leverage, and perceived legitimacy (Boampong &

Tachie, 2017; Segbenya, 2019). Workers’ organisations influence resource allocation,

and the experience gathered can be used to help informal workers to overcome their

challenges (Nkosi, 2017). A focus on workers’ organisation can serve as the basis for the

emergence of many international union federations’ investment in informal workers

organising campaigns that hope to ally themselves with existing informal worker

organisations (Vyas, 2017). Webster and Ludwig (2017) posit that there are several

reasons for organising at the individual, local and national levels. In short, organising

can help workers to negotiate with authorities or employers to improve their working

conditions, share resources to achieve improved incomes, and influence policies,

programmes and regulations that can directly affect them.

At the regional level, being organised allows workers to share information and learn

from successes in other locations while also influencing regional decision-makers. At

the highest level, which is the international level, international networks give workers a

formidable, cooperative voice on the global stage to advance changes in international

policies that can eventually lead to changes in national legislation (Chen, 2012). Joining

the forces of informal workers can provide many benefits to the working poor in the

informal economy. The benefits are felt in different domains of workers’ livelihoods and

lives. Generally, organising can confer greater voice, visibility and validity on informal

workers. As a result, this enables them to increase their influence on the broader

environment that impinges on their livelihoods.