Kwamina Panford

IMF - World Bank and Labor's Burdens in Africa (eBook, PDF)

Ghana's Experience

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Globalization, the return to a multi-party system of government, and the policies advocated by the IMF and the World Bank have led to near revolutionary labor relations in Ghana. As Panford shows, these new social and economic forces have unleashed new and even contradictory labor policies and practices which are having profound social, political, and economic consequences. Panford examines how the Ghana Constitution of 1992 led for the first time to new workers' rights, including the right to affiliate with any local, national, or international union. In response to globalization and policies advocated by the IMF and the World Bank, the Ghana government sought to resist worker demands for improved working and living conditions. The situation was worsened by the privatization of state-owned businesses and severe cuts in public employment. In this environment of tense labor relations, government hostility, and weak employment, Panford traces the ways workers are revitalizing unions and developing new sources of jobs and finances. These include relatively aggressive systematic organization of women, senior staff, and the informal/agricultural sector. One of the most important initiatives of the unions is the creation of a workers' trust to establish and finance worker-owned enterprises. The evidence presented by Panford indicates the failure of IMF and World Bank policies, and he calls for new and viable policy alternatives with emphasis on enhancing Ghana's global competitiveness and meeting genuine development needs. A thoughtful analysis that will be of interest to scholars and researchers involved with development and international economics, labor relations in the developing world and the increased involvement of international financial institutions.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 200
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. August 2001
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780313016080
• Artikelnr.: 68528620

Autorenporträt

KWAMINA PANFORD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African-American Studies at Northeastern University. He has spent several years of research involving field work in Ghana and a year's employment at the ILO's Geneva head office. Dr. Panford specializes in international labor relations, comparative socio-economic development and international human rights.

Inhaltsangabe

Globalization and Ghana's Industrial Relations at the End of the Twentieth
Century Political Changes and Industrial Relations in Ghana: 1986-2000
Major Industrial Relations Institutions in Ghana: Some Trends and Recent
Developments Globalization and Structural Adjustment: An Assessment of
Ghana's Economic Competitiveness Labor and the Triple Challenges of
Globalization, Structural Adjustment and the Transition to Multi-party
Democracy in Ghana Ghana's Global Competitiveness: Industrial Relations and
Structural Adjustment Policy Challenges in the Twenty-First Century Ghana's
SAP and Global Competitiveness: A Final Assessment Appendices Selected
Bibliography Index