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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Informalisation and the end of trade unionism as we knew it? Dissenting remarks from a Tanzanian case study |
Author: | Rizzo, Matteo |
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] |