The Sierra Leone Teachers Union: Labor in a Post-Conflict Society

Resource type
Journal Article
Authors/contributors
Title
The Sierra Leone Teachers Union: Labor in a Post-Conflict Society
Abstract
The Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) has long played an important role in the country's education system and its labor movement. With more than 30,000 members, the SLTU is the largest and perhaps the most powerful union in Sierra Leone today. Nonetheless, the union struggles with challenges unheard of in developed countries. It represents teachers in an education system that was ravished by its eleven-year civil war (1991 to 2002). Not only are working conditions extremely difficult for teachers (classroom overcrowding, lack of educational materials, low pay, and often late pay), the union must negotiate union agreements with the Ministry of Education, which itself has no direct influence on the nation's coffers. Sierra Leone's Ministry of Finance and more importantly, the International Monetary Fund set policies that directly impact the quality of Sierra Leone's education system and its teachers.
Publication
WorkingUSA
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
57-71
Date
2011
Language
en
ISSN
1743-4580
Short Title
The Sierra Leone Teachers Union
Accessed
15/12/2020, 17:25
Library Catalogue
Wiley Online Library
Rights
© The Authors. WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society © 2011 Immanuel Ness and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Citation
Amman, J., & O’Donnell, J. (2011). The Sierra Leone Teachers Union: Labor in a Post-Conflict Society. WorkingUSA, 14(1), 57–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-4580.2011.00320.x