Why AfCFTA Must Create Jobs; Not Just Market Access: How the biggest trade deal misses out on equity.
Francis Atwoli - COTU K’s Secretary General
Introduction: AfCFTA’s Promise and Its Peril for Workers
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the world’s largest free trade deal by country count, covering 55 African Union states. At its core, AfCFTA aims to create a single, continent-wide market for goods and services, uniting 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of over US$3.4 trillion. It is a flagship project of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want; the AU’s long-term development strategy to transform Africa into a global economic powerhouse. The agreement promises to boost intra-African trade by 52.3% and raise living standards across the continent. But trade unions warn that, without deliberate planning, AfCFTA could exacerbate inequality, weaken labour rights, and further marginalise Africa’s working poor.
In June 2025, union leaders from across the continent gathered in Nairobi to demand that workers’ rights be hardwired into the AfCFTA framework. Their rallying cry: “No trade without workers.”
Who Are the Unions at the Table?
COTU-Kenya (Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya)
Kenya’s national trade union centre, founded in 1965.
Represents more than 1.5 million formal and informal sector workers, across health, transport, construction, agriculture, domestic work, and more.
Member of ITUC-Africa.
In the AfCFTA debate, COTU-K has been vocal about ensuring Kenya’s National Implementation Committee (NIC) includes worker representation.
ITUC-Africa (International Trade Union Confederation-Africa)
The continental federation of national trade union centres.
Represents about 18 million workers in 52 African countries.
Affiliated with the global ITUC.
Advocates for core labour rights, decent work, and social protections in continental frameworks like AfCFTA.
ITUC-Africa has warned that AfCFTA risks becoming a "race to the bottom" if it prioritises tariffs and trade over workers' rights.
Joel Akhator Odigie, ITUC-Africa’s General Secretary, has said: “The African Continental Free Trade Area must work for African people. It should not just be a corridor for goods and capital. It must be a platform for uplifting the lives of the working poor, the informal sector, women, and youth. It must create jobs, not just market access.”
OTUWA (Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa)
A regional federation uniting national centres across 15 ECOWAS states.
Represents millions of West African workers, from Nigeria to Senegal.
Has demanded that AfCFTA include enforceable labour rights protections to prevent job displacement and social dumping.
Works closely with ITUC-Africa to lobby ECOWAS and the African Union for a labour protocol within AfCFTA.
OTUWA leaders stress that ignoring workers’ rights will simply “export poverty” from one part of Africa to another.
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
Nigeria’s largest trade union centre, founded in 1978.
Represents around 4 million workers across public and private sectors.
Active in national social dialogue and international union solidarity.
Engaged with the Nigerian government’s AfCFTA committee to demand decent work provisions.
NLC has warned that without labour protections, AfCFTA will “sell out the Nigerian worker” in favour of foreign capital.
IndustriALL Global Union
Represents 50 million workers in mining, energy, manufacturing worldwide, with strong African affiliates.
Has demanded AfCFTA embed ILO labour standards.
Focuses on preventing informalisation, wage suppression, and gender-based violence in supply chains linked to trade deals.
Power Relations: Who Decides? Who Benefits?
AfCFTA negotiations have primarily focused on tariffs, goods, and investment, leaving workers as an afterthought.
This dynamic exposes class divisions:
Governments eager for foreign investment may cut wages and rights to compete.
Corporates seek deregulated markets, weaker unions, cheaper labour.
Workers, especially in informal economies, face displacement without social safety nets.
Unions argue AfCFTA must rebalance power by centring workers not just corporations; in its design.
What Are Unions Demanding? Concrete Proposals
Formal inclusion in decision-making: National AfCFTA Implementation Committees must reserve seats for unions.
Binding Labour Protocol: Include core ILO standards: Freedom of Association (C87), Collective Bargaining (C98), Equal Pay (C100), Abolition of Forced Labour (C105).
Gender Equity: Address barriers facing women traders, entrepreneurs, and workers, especially in the informal sector.
Just Transition Measures: Adjustment funds for workers displaced by competition.
Social Protection: Extend coverage to informal and platform workers, who make up over 80% of Africa’s labour force.
Enforceable Dispute Resolution: Labour-focused panels within AfCFTA’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism.
Union-Led Monitoring: Regular reporting and civil society oversight.
Comparative Insight: Learning from Other Regions
Other trade deals include labour chapters:
EU trade agreements often reference ILO conventions.
USMCA includes dispute panels for labour rights.
ECOWAS has a Labour Migration Strategy prioritising decent work.
Unions argue AfCFTA must go further, given Africa’s high informality and vulnerability to wage suppression.
Conclusion: A Call to Action
As AfCFTA promises to reshape African economies, unions insist that workers must shape the rules, not simply obey them.
“No trade without workers” is not a slogan. It’s a demand for justice, dignity, and a truly pan-African development model.
If AfCFTA ignores labour rights, it risks repeating the very inequalities it claims to fix.
References