The Legal Framework for Trade Unionism in Ethiopia: A Historical Perspective.

• Author: Redae, Mehari

Introduction

It has been frequently stated that human beings are social animals in that it is unimaginable to think of a normal human person out of a collective way of life. In fact, traditional societies managed to overcome the hardship emanating from nature and beasts through their collectivity and collective action. Hence, collectivisation is an inherent character of the human family and denial of associating would be unnatural. In modern world too, collectivisation is believed to be a source of strength, power and a manner of expressing 'organised voice' on issues of common interest.

From the perspective of industrial relation, ILO, ever since its establishment, has been of the view that the issue of freedom of association is 'of urgent importance' owing to its contribution to the attainment of social justice and lasting peace. Indeed, the very existence of the ILO is dependent upon social organization as it presupposes a tripartite arrangement in which governments, employers' and employees' representatives are expected to actively engage. In Ethiopia, laws allowing for trade unionism have been in place since 1963. Within this period, three governments have come and pass the one replacing the other by force. The Imperial regime was overthrown, after 44 years in power, by the military regime (locally known as the Dergue) and the latter was forcefully removed, after 17 years in power, by the current government some twenty years ago. Each of the government possesses its own labour law reflecting its respective socio-economic and political set up. This piece argues although Ethiopia has been an ILO member since 1923 and a signatory to both ILO conventions No.87 and 98 since 1963, its levels of compliance towards these international instruments in terms of formulating domestic laws consistent with the conventions is yet to be desired.

Freedom of Association: International sources

The principal legal sources pertaining to freedom of association at international level are the international human rights instruments both of a global and regional coverage. Among the instruments of global application are: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (1948), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) (1966), and International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (1966). Content wise, Article 20(1) of the UDHR provides that 'everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association'. Art.22 of the ICCPR, on its part, provides: 'everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.' The ICESCR too has a provision on 'the right of everyone to form and join the trade unions of his/her own choice'.

There are also instruments of regional application in which the right to freedom of association has been spelt out. These include instruments such as the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), (i) The American Convention on Human Rights (1969) (ii) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981) (iii). They are destined to apply to signatories in Europe, Americas and Africa respectively.

The way the international human rights instruments have been drawn up is a broad framework in the sense that it enables every human person to have the right to associate. They cover all social, political and economic combinations of social life. This may range from formation of political parties and consumers' associations to associations of hobby clubs (Wedderburn 2003, p. 249). In the context of employment relations, this right is available both to employers and employees. In fact, the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, the source document for the ILO, underlined that 'the right of association for all lawful purposes by the employed as well as by the employers' (iv) was held to be among the 'principles of special and urgent importance.'

The Philadelphia Declaration of 1944 reaffirmed the ILO's commitment to four most important principles among which freedom of association is one. In addition to these, membership to the ILO has been conditioned upon formal acceptance of the Constitution including the Declaration of Philadelphia where the principle of freedom of association has been enshrined in both (ILO 1996, para.10). Nevertheless, it is with the coming into being of Convention No.87 (1948) that this fundamental principle was translated into specific enforceable rights and obligations available to employees and employers as well (Dunning 1998, p. 163).

It is important to underline, however, that though the right is available both to employees and employers, in practice, it is the employees who demanded and badly needed associations. This desire for collectivization emanated from their weak bargaining positions when and if they were to bargain individually. It was stated earlier that association is a source of strength. Records of the Committee on Freedom of Association confirmed that most of the complaints before it which are associated with impediments to freedom of association have been brought to its attention by trade unions (ILO; 1996). It should be noted that 'the individual employer is already a collective power in being a holder of capital' (Deakin and Morris 2009, p.675).

In fact, the framers of various international instruments seemed to duly appreciate this fact when they introduced a specific provision on 'the right to form and join trade unions' which has been addressed specifically to employees in addition to the general provision on freedom of association which entitled both employers and employees to associate. This should not however lead us to the conclusion that freedom of association is irrelevant to employers' altogether. On the contrary, on the face of organized labour, single employer may, relatively, prove to be weak and hence the need for employers' association would be seriously felt as well.

In the African context unionisation was very much associated with the introduction of industrialisation and the latter was closely connected with colonisation. As industrialisation and industrial relation were brought with colonial powers into the African continent, unionisation, in the African context, had multiple objectives and responsibilities to attain (Bean 1994, p.221). The colonial industrial relation expressed itself, among other things, in discriminatory treatment in general and discriminatory payment in particular between the foreigners and indigenous labour force. Militating against such a discriminatory treatment appeared to be one among the many objectives of trade unionism in Africa. Moreover, unionisation was instrumental in expressing organised voice against exploitation of labour by capital. Last but not least, it was also an aspect of the struggle against colonisation (Bean 1994, p.214). It, thus, had human, economic and political dimensions as a result of which significant overlap between the various goals was being observed.

Early days of labour combinations in Ethiopia

Development of labour relation was very much associated with the emergence of industries and industrial relations. The economic basis for labour relation has been the productive interaction, and at times the confrontational engagement, between capital and labour. From this perspective, it must be admitted from the outset that capitalist mode of production has been slow in pace and low in development in Ethiopia (Baudissin 1965, p.101). Ethiopian labour relation is more or less an out come of such a slow and prolonged economic and social transformation. It is also argued that the cultural and legal conditions that prevailed in the country have negatively contributed to the sluggish development of capitalist relation.

Culturally, Ethiopian society had looked down labour and labourers and the tendency of despising both trade and manual work (Redden 1968, p.13; Seyoum 1969, p.6; Voice of Labour 1971, p.12; Guadagni 1972, p.1). In fact, there has been an Ethiopian proverb which states that 'from cleverness of hands comes serfdom and from cleverness of tongue the master'. Such a societal attitude towards labour had annoyed Emperor Menelik II, the early twentieth century ruler of the country, who promulgated, the following Decree in 1908:

'Let those who insult the worker on account of his labour cease to do so. You by your insults and insinuations are about to leave my country without artisans who even make the plough. Hereafter any one of you who insults these people is insulting me personally (Mahteme Selassie 1949, p.432).

It was at the beginning of the twentieth century that capitalist mode of production began to emerge in Ethiopia (Daniel 1984, p. 157). The victory at the Battle of Adwa (1896) against the Italian invasion by Ethiopian forces was a significant success for Emperor Menelik II subsequent to which his international visibility was enhanced (Bahru 2002, p.111). This paved the way for the Emperor to discuss matters of common interest and concern with European powers on an equal footing. As a result, the Emperor began to establish formal diplomatic ties with the European super powers of the time (Britain, France and Italy) that had colonial presence bordering the Ethiopian territories.

The present neighbouring countries of Ethiopia by then were under the occupation of these European powers. Eritrea was then under Italian colonial administration; the Sudan was under British rule; Djibouti was under the French domination while Kenya belonged to the British colonial system. Moreover, each of the colonial powers had territorial possessions in the present day Somalia (Italian Somaliland, French Somaliland, and British Somaliland). Through the long and porous borders of the country capitalist elements, ideas and attitudes were being introduced into the then feudal Ethiopia through the medium of, among other things, missionaries and missionary schools; merchants...