“Social dialogue is completely dead in Benin,” says Anselme Amoussou
Anselme Amoussou, Secretary General of CSA-Bénin, has declared the “death” of social dialogue in Benin during an appearance on the program De vous à nous on Peace FM, Sunday, May 25, 2025.
SUMMARY
According to Amoussou, the country’s consultation bodies have ceased to function, and the authorities have lost the will to sustain any meaningful social dialogue. His remarks sent a strong warning signal during his media appearance on Sunday.
“Social dialogue is completely dead in Benin,” declared Anselme Amoussou, Secretary General of the Confédération des syndicats autonomes du Bénin (CSA-Bénin), sounding the alarm live on Peace FM.
According to the union leader, institutions responsible for facilitating negotiations between the government and social partners have become ineffective due to a lack of political will.
A former leading voice in social struggles during the 2010s and 2020s, Amoussou expressed frustration:
“We are no longer practicing a unionism based on demands and negotiations. Today, we’re forced to fight just to have our right to unionize acknowledged.”
Amoussou pointed to the National Commission for Negotiation—once the centerpiece of social dialogue—as now a hollow shell. He condemned missed sessions, unanswered requests, and meaningless discussions. Even the two employers’ organizations recently included in the commission, Coneb and CNP-Bénin, are disillusioned.
“They’re bored. They don’t even know why they show up,” he said wryly.
Ministry of Labor under fire
Amoussou also criticized the Ministry of Labor for its lack of engagement, highlighting the absence of any meeting with union leaders on May 1, 2025. Instead, the minister gave a televised address.
“That’s not dialogue. That’s a monologue,” he said.
To him, it marks an unprecedented backslide:
“The minister doesn’t organize anything anymore—because he knows he has nothing to say to us.”
Implicit in his remarks is a portrait of a government that delegates responsibility without granting real decision-making power. A government, he claims, that treats its social partners with disdain and leaves them feeling hopeless.
“They look at our outstretched hand with contempt… I believe social dialogue is completely dead in Benin,” Amoussou concluded with evident despair.
He warned of the dangers of silencing voices:
“What they forget is that by preventing people from expressing themselves, they’re creating a powder keg… We cannot let them destroy what we’ve built.”
Amoussou called for the defense of this legacy—through peaceful resistance, vigilance, and remembrance.
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