Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Informalisation and the end of trade unionism as we knew it? Dissenting remarks from a Tanzanian case study
Author:Rizzo, MatteoISNI
Year:2013
Periodical:Review of African Political Economy (ISSN 0305-6244)
Volume:40
Issue:136
Pages:290-308
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:transport workers
political action
trade unions
informal sector
collective bargaining
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2013.794729
Abstract:This article analyses the political organization by informal transport workers, and their partial achievements in claiming rights at work from employers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, from 1995 to the present. The article takes issue with the influential view that, due to widespread economic informalization, trade unionism and workplace labourism are no longer a viable option for defending workers' interests. From less despondent approaches to the possibilities for labour(ism), it borrows the insight that making sense of workers' unrest requires a political economy approach. This entails, first and foremost, locating workers within their economic structure, and understanding their relationship to capital. The article thus starts by sketching out the state of public transport in Dar es Salaam, the predominant employment relationship in the sector, and the balance of power between bus owners and workers. It then analyses workers' organisation since 1997, workers' strategies to achieve (in conjunction with the Tanzania transport workers union) the formalization of the employment relationship with bus owners, and their progress towards it. The conclusion reflects on the broader lessons that can be learned from this case study. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French [Journal abstract]
Views
Cover