Organisation of African Trade Union Unity

[2] The OATUU strives to promote "social and economic justice" in Africa[2] through projects that combat HIV/AIDS, fund women empowerment in the workplace, and support democratisation efforts in African nations.

The OATUU receives financial support from the ILO to directly fund these projects as well as lobbying efforts that favour policies conducive to economic development in Africa.

[4] The AATUF was born out of the resolutions from the first All-African People’s Conference (AAPC) held in 1958 at Accra, Ghana headed by prominent Pan-Africanists like Tom Mboya and Kwame Nkrumah.

[7] Beginning in 1964, both the AATUF and ATUC sent delegations to OAU summits to gain exclusive recognition as the sole representative of African workers’ interests.

This led to the court of African Labour Ministers, who gathered from 1966 to 1967, to discuss what role trade unions should play in Africa’s development and how to achieve unity between them.

In 1967, the OAU’s Administrative Secretary-General called all national trade union centres to attend a conference aimed at reconciling AATUF and ATUC conflicts and aspirations.

[8] In collaboration with the International Labor Organisation (ILO) in organizing the conference, the OAU Secretary General presented unity as a core principle to all trade union centres in Africa.

[10] In addition to sharing mandates, the ILO supports and funds “extensive worker education programmes (WED)” which the OATUU offers at the national, regional, and continental levels.

[10] As noted, The OATUU strives to promote "social and economic justice" in Africa[2] dealing with problems like HIV/AIDS, women empowerment in the workplace, and democratisation in African nations.

The OATUU carries out a variety of education, training, research and advisory tasks across various areas in the Africa: national defense, democracy, women empowerment, entrepreneurship, health and safety, actions against HIV/AIDS, African economic integration, and trade.

Many felt that the socio-economic conditions had been negatively impacted by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) supported by the IMF and the World Bank, ultimately reducing the capabilities for democratic developments in the continent.