Strengthening Unions & Good Governance
October 2007 - September 2012
The main purpose of the project is to strengthen the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to defend union and workers' rights in Nigeria. An important component to the project is the promotion of good governance and the integration of gender in the work of the NLC and its affiliates.
This project also aims to establish school programs which will provide specialized training on topics such as the political economy, organizing union members, gender equality and strengthening union leadership skills.
The NLC also plans to utilize the "NLC at 30" process to consult unions and academics on their work over the last 30 years, with the goal of developing new strategies to influence government public policy and strengthen union structures.
Since the inception of this project, there has been electoral reform adopted in Nigeria with support of the NLC as a result of public debates, demonstrations, and direct engagement with government officials. The minimum wage has also increased in Kaduna State.
The CLC works with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on this project.
Research on Women in Trade Unions
October 2007 – September 2012
This project was designed to assess the state of gender equality and levels of participation of women in the labour movement and to identify ways of increasing women's participation and integration in union work. With research in nine
countries (Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia) this project illustrated the lack of substantial improvement in gender equality, despite decades of work supporting the integration of women into the African labour movement.
The reserach includes surveys, analytical research, workshops, meetings and the production of education and research materials on the role of unions in respect to policy and advocacy on gender issues.
Recommendations of the report will be integrated in the next phases of development in participating countries.
The Canadian Labour Congress worked with the Africa Labour Researchers’ Network (ALRN) on this research.
Nigeria