The research was titled, ”Implications of Private Participation in Solid Waste Management for working conditions and collective organisation in Accra”,  and was sponsored by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) of the University of Cape Coast and undertaken by the Labour and Development Research Cluster of the institute. 

 

Among other things, the study found out that waste collectors had a low self-esteem of themselves because they were disrespected by the population due to the work they did.

 

It was also observed that most waste workers got intoxicated on the job in order to be able to deal with the stench that emanated from garbage and that made them susceptible to accidents on the job.

 

Some workers interviewed for the study said they got drunk as a means of helping them to deal with the stench from the garbage they collected.

 

Even though solid waste management contractors had provided janitors with nose masks, the stewards said they could not use the masks because they could not breathe when they wore them.

 

To them, the only solution was to resort to liquor to deal with the stench from the garbage.

 

Poor conditions

 

A most important finding of the study which was conducted in August 2014, was that the workers had poor conditions of service with attendant health risks and weak options for collective bargaining available to them. 

 

Workers engaged in waste collection who manually gathered and disposed of urban solid waste in the effort to maintain a healthy urban environment were frequently exposed to risks of diseases and work-related hazards.

 

This was because they were oftentimes unprotected and exposed to hazardous materials, faecal matter, chemical residues and heavy metals. 

 

According to the study, the situation was compounded by the government’s policy of gradual “roll back” of direct government funding and intensification of cost recovery for waste management services.

 

On the matter of wages, it was found out that while waste contractors paid fixed monthly wages, the salaries of some workers were less than the prevailing national monthly minimum wage. Salaries in some cases ranged from GH¢250 to GH¢450.

 

However, some waste collectors in the informal sector who operated the ‘taxi bola’ and ‘kaya bola’, make between GH¢480 and GH¢600.

 

Other findings in the study concerned local authorities creating monopolies in areas where they lifted waste. They had had the localities zoned and allocated specific waste collection contractors, thereby squeezing out waste collection agents  in the informal sector.

 

Trade union mobilisation of workers was also found to be weak in the sector as some private waste contractors frustrated attempts by labour unions to organise workers in the sector.

 

Recommendations 

 

The study, which focused on waste collection in Accra, included in-depth interviews with private waste contractors, informal waste collectors and groups and associations in the sector, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), and the Local Government Workers Union (LGWU) which is the umbrella labour union for some workers in waste management services.

 

The study recommended recognition for informal waste workers  and for them to be effectively integrated into sanitation policies.  

 

It encouraged unions which were increasingly left weakened in the face of privatisation of the sector under the concept of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to be innovative in their work in order to cater for the welfare of workers in the sector.