Ethiopia: towards a common collective bargaining strategy28 November, 2019Unions meeting at a collective bargaining strategy workshop concluded that bargaining together, they could achieve better wages and working conditions.
Living wages a major demand in Africa22 October, 2014Campaigns are being developed in several African countries to push for living wages.
Facing the living wage challenge in Ethiopia14 April, 2016For Ethiopian unions, the achievement of living wages for their members is a key goal if the country’s development objectives are to be met, including becoming a middle-income country. Yet the mechanisms that unions could use to achieve this goal, namely systems for establishing a minimum wage or conducting industry bargaining, have yet to be developed in Ethiopia.
Unions fear job losses if AGOA eligibility is withdrawn from Ethiopia20 October, 2021Ethiopian unions fear that millions of jobs will be lost if the United States withdraws the country’s eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which gives duty-free access to the country’s textile, garments, shoe, leather and other products.
Strengthening union organizing as Ethiopia industrializes12 August, 2018With more industrial parks being opened in Ethiopia as part of government’s industrialization strategies, unions are taking the opportunity to recruit, organize and build their capacity for effective collective bargaining.
PROFILE: Organizing in the garment and textile sector in Ethiopia20 May, 2019On 7 March, thousands of textile and garment workers went on strike at Ethiopia’s biggest industrial park, Hawassa, demanding better wages, safe working conditions and an end to sexual harassment. The workers were not represented by a trade union, because for the past two years, management at the industrial park has refused to allow unions to organize.
Union busting at Shints garments in Ethiopia condemned30 July, 2020Over a number of years, management at Shints ETP Garments built cordial industrial relations with the union at the factory at Bole Lemi industrial park in Addis Ababa. Unfortunately, recent changes in management have seen the introduction of union busting tactics that are pushing back the gains.
Massive job losses reverse union gains in Ethiopia’s Hawassa Industrial Park21 July, 2022After a long and difficult campaign to gain access to organize and recruit members in Ethiopia’s biggest industrial park, Hawassa, the Industrial Federation of Textile, Leather, and Garment Workers Trade Union (IFTLGWTU) says its efforts are unravelling from the huge job losses caused by factory closures.
