Emerging Trends in Public Labor Policies and Union-Government Relations in Asia and Africa

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 states that “everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests” (Article 23[4]). Ezejiofor Gaius , Protection of Human Rights Under the Law (London: Butterworths and Co., 1964), p. 262.

International Labor Office, Legislative Series, Mar.–Apr. 1952. Fr. 5. For earlier developments, see Berg Elliot , “French West Africa,” in Galenson Walter , ed., Labor and Economic Development (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1959), pp. 191–192, 204–206.

Lorwin Val R. , The French Labor Movement (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp. 205–209.

For a good discussion of the varying degrees of alliances between unions and political parties, see Berg Elliot J. Butler Jeffrey , “Trade Unions” in Coleman James S. , Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 340–381.

Labour Survey of North Africa (Geneva: ILO. 1960), p. 152.

Halpern Manfred , The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 324.

For instance, in one case, the government of France refused passports to Tunisian labor union officials who wished to attend a meeting of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) being held abroad. The government argued before the International Labor Organization's Committee on Freedom of Employers' and Workers' Organizations that the refusal was not designed to restrict trade union activity but to prevent political contacts between the applicants and the ICFTU. Apparently, the ILO Committee did not consider this to be a valid excuse. Because of ICFTU's support for national independence movements, it was viewed unfavorably by the government. Jenks C. Wilfred , The International Protection of Trade Union Freedom (London: Stevens and Sons, 1957), pp. 317–319 and 440–441.

For detailed provisions of Asian laws in the immediate post-independence period, see Asian Labour Laws (New Delhi: ILO, 1951), Part 1, chap. VIII.

Roberts B. C. , Labour in the Tropical Territories of the Commonwealth (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1964), p. 259–261.

Occasionally, the Registrar could give registration for a “probationary” period. African Labour Survey (Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, 1962), p. 225.

Ibid., p. 244.

Bose Vivian , “Preventive Detention in India,” Journal of the International Commission of Jurists, III: 1 (Spring 1961), 92.

For details of these codes, see the bimonthly issues of ILO, Legislative Series 1960–1965.

The International Labour Code, 1951, I (Geneva: ILO, 1952), 681.

ILO, Legislative Series, Sept.–Oct. 1961, Mod. 1.

ILO, Legislative Series, Jan.–Feb., 1960, UARI.

Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (Geneva: ILO, 1958), 54. For a comprehensive report on the general issues of trade union freedom, see “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Employers' and Workers' Organizations,” ILO, Official Bulletin, XXXIX: 9 (1956) (popularly referred to as the Lord McNair Report).

Summary of Reports on Ratified Conventions, (Geneva: ILO, 1958), p. 105.

ILO, Legislative Series, Mar.–Apr. 1965. UARI Section 175; “Mauritania” in Report … (Geneva: ILO, 1965), pp. 95–96.

Report … (Geneva: ILO, 1962), p. 111.

ILO, Legislative Series, Jan.–Feb. 1965, Syr. 1 (Sec. 3).

ILO, Legislative! Series, May–June 1959, Ghana 1.

ILO, Legislative Series, May–June 1960, Ghana 1.

See Shafi M. , ed., Current Labour Code of Pakistan (Central) (Karachi, Pak.: Bureau of Labor Publications, 1962), pp. 302–305: Trinidad and Tobago, Act No. 8 of 1965).

See Prevention and Settlement of Industrial Disputes in Asia, (Geneva: ILO, 1962). (Documents Submitted to and Report of an Asian Regional Seminar held in Kuala Lumpur, December 17–19, 1961.)

Mathur A. S. , “Statutory Dispute Settlement in India,” in Roberts Harold S. Brissenden Paul F. , eds., The Challenge of Industrial Relations in the Pacific-Asian Countries (Honolulu, Hawaii: East-West Center Press, 1965), pp. 94–95.

Exact number of these committees is unknown. This figure is based on the number of industrial establishments hiring 50 or more workers.

Personal interviews and field trip, Aug.–Nov. 1965.

“The Evolution of Labour Disputes Settlement Procedures in Certain African Countries,” International Labour Review, XCI:2 (Feb. 1965), 111.

Jenks C. Wilfred , The International Protection of Trade Union Freedom (London: Stevens and Sons, 1957), pp. 369–378.

For a detailed discussion of union-party relationships, see Millen Bruce H. , The Political Role of Labor in Developing Countries (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1963).

For the roles of unions in individual one-party states, see the relevant sections in Carter Gwendolen M. , ed., African One-Party States (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1962).

Nyerere Julius , “The Role of African Trade Unions,” in Sigmund Paul E. , ed., The Ideologies of Developing Nations (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1963), pp. 202–205.

For a description of these events, see The Reporter, XXX:8 (April 9, 1964), 21–25.

Keita Madeira , “The Single Party in Africa,” in Sigmund Paul E. , ed., op. cit., p. 179.

U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Law and Practice in Turkey (Washington, D.C.: BLS, 1963), pp. 25–38 and 56–57 (monograph).

Halpern Manfred , The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963), pp. 325–326.

One reporter estimates that since October 1962 a total of 50,000 people have been arrested under the Defense of India Rules, though not all of these are, or were, jailed at the same time. Campbell Alex , “Mrs. Gandhi's Mission: What India Wants from the U.S.,” New Republic, April 2, 1966, p. 15.

Monthly Labor Review, LXXXIX (May 1966), 528.