Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I use trade union struggles on utility tariff adjustments in Ghana to provide an alternative narrative to assumptions on diminished union power and relevance. These struggles and their outcomes illustrate trade union vitality and provide new insights on social movement unionism (SMU)

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores one of the trade union responses to neoliberalism in Ghana: labour struggles against removal of subsidies on utilities. As part of its neoliberal programme, the government of Ghana has sought to achieve full cost recovery in the electricity and water sector through end user tariffs. However, utility price increases have elicited significant trade union opposition. To gain deeper insights into how these struggles are waged and given meanings, I used qualitative approaches and 39 individuals, including unionists, civil society activists and officials of business associations we interviewed. The findings suggest that labour resistance has prevented full cost recovery in utilities through user tariffs. In 2016, trade union struggles achieved a 14.2 percentage point reduction of the gazetted residential electricity rate. Currently, domestic electricity consumption up to 300kWh in a month attracts between 5.6 percent to 26.5 percent subsidies from the government of Ghana. I argue that the concessions in tariff increases achieved by trade unions is a show of power and ability to mobilise support beyond unionised workers to achieve non-workplace goals. In this case study, we see that even though political partisanship and the operations and orientation of civil society organisations (CSOs) inhibit formation of alliances between unions and CSOs around tariffs, labour generates individualised mass alliances with consumers, an alliance that bypasses institutionalised CSOs and directly solicits support from individual consumers towards achievement of SMU goals. I therefore propose that context matters in determining relations that are established in social movement unionism.