Organized Labour and the Liberal State

Abstract

The relationship between the state and various social groups is largely influenced by the kind of interests that the state at any particular point in time seeks to pursue. The relationship between state and organized labour will be influenced be the policy the state seeks to pursue and the particular social groups it seeks to carry along with it. Where state policy is in harmony with the expectations of particular social groups, relations with the group tend to be harmonious; otherwise, the relations with the group tend to be tractious and tension-packed and the state may use other means to influence or intimidate the group concerned. This chapter looks at the changing relations between organized labour and the Ghanaian state, principally since 7 January 1992 when the country returned to constitutional rule, though it also looks back on how the relationship between the state and organized labour has evolved since the first republic