Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 142 accordingly established the Labour Department in 1938 and followed it up, in 1941, with the enactment of the first labour legislation, the Trades Union Ordinance, Cap 91. This Ordinance for the registration and regulation of labour unions paved the way for the emergence, growth and development of organised labour in the Gold Coast. The invaluable role of organised labour in the independence struggles has been well documented. 147 Be it in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe or elsewhere, organised labour played an active role in wrestling independence from the colonial masters. In Ghana, for example, the role of the TUC in the late forties and early fifties- including the general strike of 1948- were critical in getting the colonial government to rethink its overt and covert efforts to maintain colonial rule. The post-independence period saw further development of the legal framework for organised labour. Like other Anglophone countries, independent Ghana saw the development of fairly unified and centralised trade union structures with single trade union centres, contrary to Francophone countries like Senegal, Burkina Faso and others which had several trade union centres. In Ghana, the Industrial Relations Act of 1958,(Act 56) gave a definite legal expression to the establishment of the Trades Union Congress and its affiliates; and saw further development of the same legislation with a new Industrial Relations Act of 1965,(Act 299). The close relations between the Ghana TUC and the Convention People's Party Government, led by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, created favourable conditions that allowed trade union membership to be almost automatic for workers entering formal employments that had registered trade unions. This boosted the membership growth of the labour movement. On the other hand, the relationship with government created conditions for a certain amount of control of the top leadership of organised labour. Using collective bargaining as the main instrument, the Ghana TUC and its affiliates remained largely preoccupied with enterprise level conditions of work and employment, while engaging with employers and government through the emerging tripartite arrangement at the national level. Some of the other major organisations of working people that have co-existed and cooperated with the Ghana TUC to various degrees include the Ghana Registered Nurses' Association(GRNA), Civil Servants' Association of Ghana(CSAG), and the Ghana National Association of Teachers(GNAT). Since the 1990s, the Ghana Federation of Labour(GFL) 148 has emerged as a second trade union centre, having 147 Agbesinyale, P., Democratic Workers' Participation for Economic and Social Development-the case of Ghana, (Accra; Hallows Ads Ltd,2000) 148 Some of the affiliates of the GFL are Food and Allied Workers Union(FAWU), Textiles, Garments and Leather Employees Union(TEGLEU), Private Teachers Staff Union of Ghana.