The Origins and Development of Trade Unions in Zambia

THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE UNIONS IN ZAMBIA
Introduction and Background
The birth of African trade unionism in Zambia was not easy, but rather a slow and painful
affair. The colonial state was opposed to the formation of trade unions just as the business
community was also hostile.
Before the Second World War, African workers in Northern Rhodesia in various ways tried
to organise themselves in industrial or employees’ associations. For example in 1932, Joseph
Kazembe tried to form a branch of Clemens Kadalie’s Industrial and Commercial Workers’
Union in Livingstone; the Native Civil Servants’ Association formed in 1927 tried to improve
the lot of African govt employees; and the Native Welfare Associations began to be formed,
the first of which was at Mwenzo (1912). All these organisations bear testimony to the
development of a purposeful proletarian consciousness among the African working class,
which cannot but be a manifestation of the ingredients comprising trade union consciousness.
As a result of common experiences at work, African workers began to feel their group
identity and to articulate their common interests and grievances. Through common
experience, both negative and positive, they were bound together as workers.
But the whole attitude of the NR govt towards the question of trade union rights for African
workers remained negative and in inimical. The question was hardly mentioned during the
Russell Commission’s hearings on the 1935 strikes. During the Forster Commission’s
hearings on the 1940 strikes, however, a number of witnesses advocated some form of
representative organisation for African workers to bargain collectively for them.
The govt held the old view that the African worker was essentially a villager, to whom trade
unionism (as known among white workers), must remain alien and irrelevant. Instead, the
authorities perpetuated a structure of labour relations based not on the industrial interests of
African workers but upon ethnic principles of representation, through the system of Tribal
Elders, and by adding to it Boss Boys and Works Committees during World War Two. This
mistaken view that African workers were not ready for trade union organisation was to
remain official policy until well after the war.
The Post-War Period
1
In 1947 the British govt sent to Northern Rhodesia William Comrie, a trade union Labour
Officer from the Colonial Office in London. This was in the wake of the numerous industrial
disputes that had rocked the country. He was to assist in the establishment of trade unions in
Northern Rhodesia. But even two decades before the arrival of Comrie in Northern Rhodesia,
the British Labour Govt tried to ameliorate labour conditions in the colonies. In 1925, for
example, the Labour Party in conjunction with the British Trades Union Congress, initiated a
series of British Commonwealth Labour Conferences attended by trade unionists and
politicians from the colonies, although Africa was initially not represented.
Further, on 30 September 1930, the Colonial Office Labour Committee sent a circular to all
colonial Governors to facilitate the formation of trade unions and to give formal legal rights
to such bodies. However, no progress was made in this direction before World War Two,
owing to change in govt in Britain, and the war itself, not to mention the resistance by local
administrators to the policy.
It was African Shop Assistants and Tailors’ Committee in Kitwe which led in the formation
of the first trade union in Northern Rhodesia during the war. This class of workers demanded
wage increases, in which housing and ration allowances would be included.
On the other hand, their colleagues in Livingstone resorted to strike action. Forty of them
employed by the Star Clothing Factory and Company (owned by an Indian firm called
Changal and Company) went on strike on 18 September 1944 because the factory had
insisted on paying them on a ticket rather than on a monthly basis. This was on the pretext
that monthly contracts encouraged absenteeism. The workers returned to work only after
management offered them an all-round increase of 2s per ticket. Although the stoppage was
for only a few hours, the very fact that it took place at all seemed significant and portentous
in a town where African workers were treated to low wages and harsh conditions. Thus the
Northern Rhodesia African Shop Assistants Union was formalised in 1947 with the help of
Comrie. It became the first trade union in Northern Rhodesia for Africans. Soon branches
were opened in Lusaka, Kitwe, Kabwe, and all major towns along the line of rail.
The resoluteness and success of shop assistants and tailors blazed the trail for other African
workers to follow, for example, miners. Then followed the drivers who formed the Northern
Rhodesia Drivers’ Trade Union in 1948. In the same year, African workers in the
construction industry formed an association which became known as Contractors’
2
Employees’ Trade Union and adopted the name Northern Rhodesia General Workers Trade
Union in 1949. It opened membership to a wide range of workers.
In March 1949 an association of domestic servants was formed in Kitwe, bringing the total
number of African trade unions formed since 1947 in the country to five. With the formation
of, in 1950, of the African Railway Workers’ Trade Union and the African Teachers
Association, the number rose to seven. The following year, the Northern Rhodesia African
Municipal and management Board Workers Trade Union was formed by workers employed
by municipal councils. In the same year, the Hotels and Catering Workers Union came into
existence. Later, it incorporated domestic servants.
But more important the year 1951 witnessed the birth of a federation of African trade unions-
the Northern Rhodesia Trade Union Congress, with Lawrence Katilungu as President,
Jeremiah Zimba (Secretary General), and Henry Mulenga (General Treasurer).

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THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE UNIONS IN ZAMBIA

Introduction and Background

The Post-War Period

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