Management of Industrial Conflict in Africa: a Comparative Analysis of Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the incidence of, and management of, trade disputes in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. As former colonies of Great Britain the countries inherited identical social and economic policies from which grew the colonial model of industrial relations in each country. However, at independence and probably before, each of the three countries followed different industrial relations policies in widely diverse manners, as dictated by prevailing economic, political and social circumstances. In spite of these differences, one broad approach has emerged. This comprises a body of rules, regulations and practices emphasising, at one end of a spectrum, a principle of tripartism among the three principal actors in industrial relations, and at the other end, employing a virtual incorporation of labour into the national economic, social and political framework. In any event, the relative achievement of industrial peace measured by the phenomenal decline in disputes in Tanzania has been made possible by the peculiar design of the industrial relations system which makes the unions agents of national development.