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ASR FORUM: ENGAGING WITH AFRICAN INFORMAL ECONOMIES

Lagos Tailors, Trade Unions, and Organizations in the Informal Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2013

Gunilla Andrae  and
Björn Beckman
Gunilla Andrae
Affiliation:
Gunilla Andrae was formerly an associate professor in the Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University. She is the author of Industry in Ghana: Production Form and Spatial Structure (Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1981) and a co-author (with Björn Beckman) of The Wheat Trap: Bread and Underdevelopment in Nigeria (Zed Books, 1985) and Union Power in the Nigerian Textile Industry: Labour Regime and Adjustment (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1998), and has published numerous articles on the formal‒informal divide in Africa. E-mail: gunilla. andrae@humangeo.su.se
Björn Beckman
Affiliation:
Björn Beckman was formerly a professor in the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, and an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria (1978‒87). He is the author of Organising the Farmers: Cocoa Politics and National Development in Ghana (Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1976) and a co-author (with Gunilla Andrae) of The Wheat Trap: Bread and Underdevelopment in Nigeria (Zed Books, 1985) and Union Power in the Nigerian Textile Industry: Labour Regime and Adjustment (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1998), and has published numerous articles on labor and trade unions in Africa. E-mail: Bjorn.Beckman@statsvet.su.se
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Abstract:

In January 2012 a broad spectrum of popular groups staged an unprecedented protest against the removal of what has been termed a “subsidy” on fuel prices by the Nigerian government. The participation of tailors in this national political event suggests that self-employed artisans were prepared to transcend their narrow nonpolitical agenda to promote their interests and demands for decent social and economic conditions. Interviews with participating organization representatives in Lagos indicate the supportive role of alliances with labor unions and organized informal workers at large. We see current global developments in the textile industry as conducive to this outcome.

Résumé:

Cet article examine l’étendue de l’influence des associations de tailleurs sur les lois nationales régissant les problèmes concernant le bien-être de leurs membres, établie par leur alliance au sein d’une organisation parapluie les regroupant avec des travailleurs industriels et des producteurs de l’économie informelle. Le contexte immédiat de cette étude de cas est la révolte urbaine de janvier 2012 au Nigéria à la suite de la suppression de la subvention pour le pétrole. La mise au point concerne les tailleurs dans la ville de Lagos. Des entrevues avec plusieurs organisations de tailleurs offrent des aperçus utiles sur la configuration des relations formelles et informelles dans l’effort d’organisation des producteurs de textiles, alors que la compétition internationale fait pression sur ce qui fut par le passé une organisation syndicale forte, et que la mobilisation internationale soutient la syndicalisation des producteurs informels pour défendre leurs intérêts.

Keywords

Tailorsunionsself-employed artisanslaborinformal economytextile and garment industryLagos
Type
ASR FORUM: ENGAGING WITH AFRICAN INFORMAL ECONOMIES: SOCIAL INCLUSION OR ADVERSE INCORPORATION?
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , December 2013 , pp. 191 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2013 

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