An Analysis of the History of Public Sector Trade Unionism in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Before independence, labour policies and laws were oppressive towards the employment of African workers. Industrial relations were based on master- servant relationship. Employment was in a four-tiered structure, whereby Europeans were at the top followed by Asians, Coloureds and Africans at the bottom. Employers determined the working conditions unilaterally. The introduction of the tax system was used to discriminate African workers and to control labour movement. Africans worked in order to pay discriminatory tax such as the poll tax or hut tax. This official discrimination made the problem of African Workers worse. The workers were not only discriminated in working places but also on the basis of race and colour. African workers, therefore, used every opportunity to protest against poor working conditions and official discrimination on racial grounds. The fight against colonial rule cannot be differentiated from the fight for workers’ rights. And this could explain why the current labour movement in Zimbabwe is politicized in a way