International Labour Standards, Decent Work and Economic Growth: Opportunities and Challenges for Ghana

To the man on the streets, international instruments could seem far away from responding to the needs of local realities. Even for the well-informed technocrat, the impact of international standards on national development may not be very palpable. You often hear people talk about how Ghana, and perhaps much of Africa and the third world, has so many policies and sign unto so many international treaties but have very little to show for the well-being of their peoples.

While such assertions are important perceptions, because of the influence of perception on attitudes and behaviour, it is refreshing to note that the architecture for the design and development of International Labour Standards (ILS) and the mechanisms laid out for monitoring their implementation at the country level provide quite a dependable approach for enhancing their impact on the relevant economic sectors in countries that ratify these labour conventions. International Labour Standards, including ILO Conventions, are developed, agreed and adopted through elaborate consultative and collaborative processes involving workers’ organisations, employers’ associations and government (regulating) agencies. The open but structured manner by which proposals are initiated and the rigorous procedures through which they are transformed into conventions by consensus or other established modalities is what has provided the relative stability in the world of work and its translation into economic survival for many peoples. So, things like hours of work per day, minimum wage, maternity leave and social security and pension benefits have become statutory realities often taken for granted because there are dependable national laws that have become norms in the ergonomic space. But this did not happen by chance: it was all worked out assiduously through the process of establishing international labour benchmarks.

International Labour Standards (ILS) are designed to promote Decent Work: a framework for enhancing job creation, social protection, social dialogue and the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW). These four pillars of Decent Work anchor the productivity machinery of every economy.

In the context of the novel 24-hour Economy (24hrE) Policy of the Government of Ghana, compliance to ILS ratified by the country provides a healthy framework for ensuring sustainable job creation, productivity and economic growth. For instance, in the Agricultural and Agri-Business sector where the 24hrE can have profound impact, compliance to relevant ILS can strongly underpin the structural social and ergonomic frame required to create jobs for young people, protect their labour rights and sustain productivity over as long as is needed to entrench real prosperity in our rural communities. Given that Ghana has ratified ILO Convention 184 on Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture, for example, ensuring that the provisions in this convention are enforced to the latter means that young agricultural workers would be effectively protected from poisonous chemicals, dangerous machinery and hazardous working conditions. In the absence of rigorous enforcement, workers are tempted to undermine their own safety to cut corners and make more profits. But a well-monitored enforcement of C184 can help to prevent such occurrences.

Another difficulty in the economy of many sub-Saharan countries is the huge informality. ILS mechanisms, such as the opportunities for the unionization of informal sector workers through Agricultural Unions, provides a potential solution to this challenge. In Ghana, there is the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) as well as the Union of Informal Workers Association (UNIWA). These and others are a critical connection between labour standards and the informal sectors of the economy. It is thus of strategic importance for the designers and implementers of the 24hrE to strengthen the capabilities (which includes technical, technological and financial capacity as well as political commitment) of key Unions such as GAWU and UNIWA, in the context of a prosperous and sustainable agriculture base for the country’s productivity and economic growth.

The 2025 Report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicates that whereas there is improvement in Economic growth in many regions of the world, capital is gaining disproportionately compared to labour. There is diminishing labour rights, and more workers are losing out on social justice. Many jobs do not meet the aspirations of workers, and their rights are being undermined even though there is growth in business profits. The implication of this includes a limited adherence to international labour standards.

As Ghana pushers the frontiers of productivity as the key strategy for economic growth and national development, let us reinforce commitments to International Labour Standards (ILS) knowing that compliance to well-crafted standards is the shortest path to sustainable development.