MZUMBE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
(SOPAM)
PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (BPA2)
SUBJECT NAME: INDUSTRIAL RELATION AND LEGISLATION
SUBJECT CODE: PUB 217
NATURE OF TASK: GROUP ASSIGNMENT
LECTURER’S NAME: PETER ANDREA
S/N STUDENTS NAME REGISTRATION
NUMBER
01 SILASI H MAHAMDU 14304039/T.19
02 OMARY AYUBU ATHUMANI 14304069/T.19
03 ITUNGWA M JACKSON 14304042/T.19
04 MAGRETH THOBIUS 14304128/T.19
05 RHOBY K WANGWE 14304043/T.19
06 AKIZA NATHAN SIMON 14304055/T.19
07 OMARY JUMA MSEBWA 14304001/T.19
QUESTION
In order to attain a thorough understanding of current trade union movement in Tanzania, one
needs not to negate the varying contexts in which the trade union movement originated and
developed.
Required.
Trace the origin of Trade Unionism in Tanzania and explain the varying context in which the
trade Union originated.
The Tanzania employment and labour relations Act No.6 of 2004 defines a trade union as “any
number of employees associated together for the purpose, whether by itself or with other
purposes of regulating relations between employees and their employers or the employers'
associations to which the employees belong”. The following are the origins of trade unionism in
Tanzania
Also broadly, Mkandala et all (2006), defines trade union as an organization whether
permanent or temporary, which consists wholly or mainly workers of one or more description
and is an organization whose principal purpose includes the regulations of relations between
workers of that description and employers or employers’ associations. In this definition, a lot
can be extracted as far as trade unions are concerned. In one aspect trade unions may consist
of mainly workers who the aim of establishing such union concerned them or it may consist of
members from more than one description. It means may consist of single trade union whose
aim protecting members it represents or it may be the umbrella of trade unions whose aim is to
protect and represent members and those who are not members. This aspect tries to elaborate
the skeleton of trade unions. On the other aspect, this definition proves the function of trade
unions as associations aiming at regulating the relationship between employees (workers) on
one side and employers or employer’s association for that matter.
Trade unions have different functions like to present the interest of the members or
workers/employees, to ensure security of employment by resisting retrenchment, to demand the
management to provide all the basic facilities such as lighting and ventilation, sanitation, rest
rooms, safety equipment, social security benefits and other welfare measures.
The state of trade union during Pre-colonial period.
At this period, there were no workers or employers' organisations as labour relations or the two
classes were not in existence in a rudimentary stage. In brief, most of the pre-colonial
communities in Tanzania were classless characterized by reciprocity and mutuality between
members with neither wage labour nor permanent and semi-permanent employees, save for
domestic slaves at later stages of development.
The state of trade unions during colonial period.
Germany era. There were no labour organizations neither trade unions except for laws governing
taxations of natives aimed at creating cheap labour by all forcible means. These laws were House
and Poll Tax Ordinance 1912, Labour Recruiting Ordinance 1909 and Legal Status of Natives
Labourers Ordinance 1913 which allowed the colonial regime and imperial companies to recruit
workers through imposition of taxes (Shivj, 1983). This period witnessed organized resistance by
labourers and some native communities waging guerrilla warfare against forced labour for
example the Maji Maji resistance in Southern Tanganyika.
British era (1919-1961). Trade unions started to arise during the British colonialism which was
highly fueled by immigration of European emigrants and Asians who were skilled labour,
technicians and thus more organized (Shivji,1986).
The history of trade unions in Tanzania can be traced in 1920s with the formation of "welfare
societies". At that period, African civil servants had organized themselves into the Tanganyika
African Civil Service Association (TSGA) in 1922, which later became the Tanganyika African
Association (TAA) in 1929 which was formed on the line similar to Asian and European civil
servants’ associations and other associations like the Kilimanjaro Motor Drivers Association
(KMDA), the Union of Shop Assistants.
In 1930-1950 the struggles of the working class had shifted from individual resistance to
collective action and from welfare societies to trade unions. This led to replacement of the
Master and Native Servants Ordinance (1923) by the Trade Unions Ordinance, No. 23 (1932) to
control workers' resistance and supervise the organizations of workers which required
compulsory registration of trade unions and conferred enormous powers to the registrar to
control activities of trade unions and in 1947, 5 unions had been formally registered
(Rutinwa,2012).
1950-1961.This period was characterised by frequent industrial actions and political movements.
As a response, the colonial government put in place The Trade Disputes (Arbitration and
Settlement) Ordinance, No.43 of 1950 which expressly outlawed industrial actions and
introduced compulsory arbitration which limited collective bargaining (Rutinwa,2012). The
Regulation of Wages and Terms of Employment Ordinance 1951 introduced the staff committees
as collective bargaining mechanism between employers and employees in both private and
public sectors. In order to curb increasing nationalistic struggle, the registrar of trade unions as
per the Trade Unions Ordinance, No. 23 (1932) deregistered Amalgamated African Motor
Drivers and Commercial Road Transport Workers of 1948, the Lake Province Tailors
Association of 1949, African Cooks were deregistered by 1951 for derogating from the terms of
registration except for the Dar es Salaam Asian Commercial Employees' Association (Orr,1966).
On the other hand, the Colonial authorities initiated a set of projects such as creation of living
space, the approval of moderate trade unions and the establishment of social security systems.
African labour were dissatisfied by such reforms due to discriminatory laws and bad working
conditions as a result in 1955, 17 trade unions merged to form the Tanganyika Federation of
Labour (TFL) and in 1956 trade unions increased to 23, with approximately 13,000 members, the
trade unions forged unity with TANU (Mihyo,1974). This move forced the colonial regime to
adopt new legal measures to crackdown nomadic workers under the Trade Unions (Amendment)
Ordinance, 1959 which empowered the registrar to deregister trade unions for derogating from
their registered objectives/constitutions.
The state of trade unions during independence.
Tanganyika became independent in December, 1961 whereby, the nationalist party (TANU)
became the ruling party and the combination of Tanganyika Federation of Labour(TFL)
remained a trade union and other unions remained in operation as well. From there, the new
relationship between trade unions and TANU government begun. Trade unions started to
confront the TANU government on several issues including trade unions autonomy and
Africanization, such confrontation existed because trade unions thought and were confident that,
they still have the role to play in political arena and be active in political life.
On the part of Africanization, some trade unions like Postal and Communications Union
(NUPE), Local Government Union (TALGWU), and Public employee union (TUPE)demanded
for immediate and unconditional Africanization, and such unions called TANU government to
take actions or to face a serious strike, they wanted to make Tanzania an African made country in
all spheres of life and administration (Mihyo,1983).
On the side of trade unions autonomy, trade unions went against the government decision to
make TFL the central and only workers trade union with a central fund and controlled according
to statutory rules. The TANU government regarded trade unions as a wrong weapon to the unity
of the country as for such struggles would undermine the independence and unity of the country
and the government leaders believed that, with the end of colonialism trade unions struggles
would have ended as well (Mihyo,1983).
The relationship between TANU government and trade unions changed practically, since the
achievement of independence resulted into loss of trade unions autonomy. In order to control
trade unions strikes and other fights, the government enacted several laws. The first legal
provision was the Trade unions (settlement) Act. No.43 of 1962, which technically abolished all
strikes through setting up complex procedures for settling labour conflicts. It was followed by
Trade Union Ordinance (amendment) Act of 1962 which made TFL the only workers legal
federation of trade unions (Friedland, 1969). The enactment of preventive detention Act of 1962
which empowered the President to order the detention of any person in his own opinion. The
President could exercise power through detention Act, to detain even trade unions leaders.
However, in 1964 the government enacted the National Union of Tanganyika (worker’s
establishment) Act, the legislation that separated and outlawed all trade unions in the country. It
dissolved TFL and established only single worker’s union known as the National Union of
Tanganyika workers (NUTA). This was too much attempt than that of the colonial masters on
trade unions because all other trade unions were abandoned legally (Kapinga 1985). This Act
changed the process of getting trade union leaders in which the secretary and deputy were both
appointed by the President. This attempt was against the ILO convention of 1948 article 3 which
provide right of worker’s organizations to develop their constitutions and rules to elect their
representatives in their own ways as they see fit for the survival and effectiveness of worker’s
unions.
The enactment of laws made within a short period of time after independence was the same
reason and even more as colonial masters enacted several laws to control trade unions before
independence. This is the same as this statement “During metamorphosis, the caterpillar
transforms to butterfly without losing its inner essence”. This statement demonstrates that, the
logic behind enactment of laws before and the short period of time after independence was of the
same nature.
All of these were the prerequisites of the one-party domination in Tanzania under Ujamaa as a
socialist ideology. In 1965, Tanzania was declared a de jure one party state in which after the
Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form Tanzania, TANU and ASP (Afro Shiraz Party) were
declared ruling parties in Tanzania main land and Zanzibar respectively. NUTA became the good
partner of TANU in promoting TANU policies and catalyzed its members to join the TANU
party. In 1977 TANU and ASP joined to form CCM the ruling party until today. In 1977 NUTA,
became the CCM’s organization the combination catalyzed the idea of having a trade union that
would combine workers from both sides of the union, from that aspect in 1979 the Act of
parliament was made to repeal NUTA (establishment) Act, therefore, NUTA was replaced by
Jumuiya ya Wafanyakazi Tanzania (JUWATA) which operated under CCM autonomy
(Chambua ,1997).
Generally, after independence the autonomy of trade unions was infringed and put under the
ruling party (government). This retarded the power of trade unions in Tanzania in as they had to
follow the directions of the government. After independence logic was that, trade unions were
formed and controlled by the government and its leaders were appointed by the President.
Recovery of trade unions after independence
From 1980s Tanzania experienced on recovery of trade unions of economic and social impacts
among different nations, resulted into un employment increase, government failure to remunerate
its own employees, lack of food and poor health services. There were introduced of International
Monetary Organization including International Monetary Fund (IFM), Word Bank(WB), they
came up with Structural Adjustment Program me (Havnevick, 1993).
In 1998, the Trade Union Act No 10 was passed by the parliament which made trade unions
independent of the government. This move was mostly supported by the unions, although some
aspects of it were criticized, especially the extent of the powers of the Registrar of Trade Unions,
the act allows any twenty workers to found a trade union and any two unions to create a national
center (Kalula and Madhuku, 2007). The Registrar, which is responsible for administrating the
provisions of the act may, however, cancel or refuse the registration of a union.
In 2000, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) was founded as a new umbrella
organization for the unions of the country under the Trade Union Act No 10 of 1998, where as
TUCTA covers only mainland Tanzania and the Zanzibar Trade Union Congress (ZTUC) being
responsible for Zanzibar (Mukandala& Bana, 2006).
Example of trade unions operating in Tanzania today includes, Tanzania Teachers Union,
Tanzania Fishing Crew and Allied workers, Researchers and Academicians Workers Union
(RAAWU), Tanzania union of industrial and commercial workers (TUICO), Trade Union
Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) which is an umbrella body and Zanzibar Trade Union Congress
(ZTUC).
The following are the varying context of the trade Union.
Legal environment. This part assesses the extent at which the existing legal environment is
enabling the functioning of trade unions in Tanzania. It includes an assessment of the following
indicators; trade unions registration procedures and legal constraints on trade unions advocacy
activities. Focusing on the first indicator, about how existing legal environment is conducive for
registration of trade unions in Tanzania. Trade unions in the country are obligated to be
registered under the “Employment and Labour Relations Act No.6, 2004”, part four (iv) section
45 (1) . The law provides procedures for registration of trade unions in Tanzania, there are some
sections that create difficult environment for the registration of trade unions. For example,
section 48 provides for organizations to apply for registration to the registrar, but sub section (2)
of the same article state that “Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the Registrar
may require further information in support of the application”. We argue that, this sub section
may create a difficult environment for the registration of trade unions in Tanzania. It provides
power to the registrar to request further information in order for a trade union to be registered.
The aspect of not mentioning what is such “further information” it may sometimes cause
difficulties as it may prolong the procedures for registration and the registrar may not be willing
to register trade union and therefore, use that power under section 48 (2) to undermine the
registration and create difficult environment for the registration of trade unions in Tanzania.
challenging
The second indicator assesses the extent at which law provides for trade unions to engage in its
advocacy activities. Trade unions advocacy activities includes protecting the interest and rights
of its members, providing education to its members and other employees on their rights
including conducting meetings and training, participating in proposing important issues in labour
relations policies and preparing strikes for expressing its member’s grievances to the
organization management or government (for those employed in the public services). If we are to
take strikes as among activities conducted by trade unions, it is granted under the Employment
and Labour Relations Act, 2004, section. 75 (a) which provides that, “Every employee has tile
right to strike in respect of a dispute of interest” and section 80 (1) (c), stating that “The strike is
called by a trade union, a ballot has been conducted under the union's constitution and a majority
of those who voted were in favour of the strike”. These two sections legalize the conducting of
strike by trade unions and the law is very clear, but the implementation of these sections has been
not convincing and procedures for meeting strikes requirement is not that much friendly. For
example, in 2010 Trade unions congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) called for a nationwide workers
strike to demand for more wages and other employment benefits, but unfortunately the President
that was in power in that time, posed threats to TUCTA regarding such strike providing that, they
(he) are not afraid of threats that workers would not vote for them during the 2010 general
election and they could not yield to such demands (Babeiya, 2011).
Economic environment. This part assesses the economic environment and its impact on trade
unions in the country. The following indicators were assessed, sources of funds for the operation
of trade unions, accountability of the use of solicited trade unions funds, and economic situation
of a country to enable the access of trade unions funds (ITUC,2015). The main source of funds
for trade unions is provided under the marginal note “Deduction of trade union dues” of the
Employment and Labour Relations Act. 2004, and is expressed in section 61 (1) which provide
that “An employer shall deduct dues of a registered trade union from an employee’s wages if that
employee has authorized the employer to do so in the prescribed form”. From this section, it
means trade unions have only one main source of fund which is deductions from member’s
contributions and deductions are only done if the member has authorized, which means the
member may decide not to authorize deductions from his/her salary. The accountability of trade
unions in Tanzania is provided by the Employment and Labour Relations Act, 2004 section 51
(1) which provides that “Every registered Organisation and federation shall, to the standards of
generally accepted accounting practice (a) principles and procedures keep books and records of
its income, expenditure, assets and liabilities.
Generally; There is no doubt that, trade unions are key players when it comes to employment
relations. They have important function of protecting and representing members. Implementation of
such function requires favorable political, economic and legal environment. Drawing from the
discussions, the environment for the operation of trade unions in Tanzania still has some weaknesses. It
is not rate to correct such weaknesses. More attention need to be given towards creating favorable
environment, and labor relations practitioners need to improve their focus about this issue. On the
other hand, trade unions commitment is still a challenge. Therefore, stakeholders also need to put much
emphasis towards creating committed and self-determined trade unions.
REFERENCES
Babeiya,E.(2010).Trade Unions and democratization in Tanzania : End of an Era? Journal of
Politics and Law,Vol.4,No.1(March 2011).
Chambua, S. (1997)."Tanzania: A People in Distress" in Kester, G. & Sidibe, O. Trade Unions
and Sustainable Democracy.Brookfield:Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Employment and Labour Relation Act No.6, 2004
Friedland, W. H. (1969).Vuma Kamba: The Development of Trade Unions in Tanganyika.
Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.
Havnevick, K. (1993).Tanzania, The Limits to Development from Above.Dar es Salaam
Tanzania:Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.
ITUC. (2015). Survey of violations of trade unions rights, freedom of association, collective
bargaining and strikes.
Kalula, E. and Madhuku, L. (2007).Public Sector Labour Relations in Africa – Developments
and Trends: CapeTown, Institute of Development and Labour Law University of
Cape town and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
Kapinga, W.B.L. (1985). "The State Control of the Working Class Through Labour Legislation"
in Shivji, I.G.(ed), The State and the Working People in Tanzania. Dakar: Codesria.
Mihyo, P.B. (1974). Labour unrest and the quest for workers' control in Tanzania, Eastern Africa
Law Review, Vol. 7:14 & 15.
Mihyo, P.B. (1983).Industrial Conflict and Change in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania
Publishing House.
Mukandala, R.S. & Bana, B. (2006).The search for independent organization; The Long Road to
the TUCTA. InKiondo, A.S and Nyang’oro J.E (Eds). Civil Society and Democratic
Development in Africa. Harare,Zimbabwe.
Orr, A.C (1966). Trade Unionism in Colonial Africa. The Journal of Modern African Studies,
Vol. 4, No. 1 (May, 1966), pp. 65-81.
Rutinwa, B., et al. (2012). The New Employment and Labour Relations Law in Tanzania: An
Analysis of Labour Legislation in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam:UDSM – School of law.
Shivji, I.G. (1983). Working Class Struggles and Organisation in Tanzania, 1939-1975. Mawazo,
Vol.5 No. 2.
Shivji, I.G. (1986). Law, State and the Working Class in Tanzania.London:James Currey Ltd.
