Trade unions in The Gambia

Traditionally, Gambian mansolu (Mandinka elders) could declare tongs, which were collective refusals to sell to merchants unless they met certain demands. According to Park, a tong was "substantively similar to a strike, but it carried the weight of 'tradition' and was thus seen in a more positive light by the administration for a longer time."[1] For example, in 1885 Musa Molloh, King of Fulladu, declared a tong in response to actions by a merchant. Molloh forbade the trade of groundnuts and was willing to "keep the nuts till they spoil and make soap of them" rather than sell them.[2]

In the early 20th century, low wages, low rations, and poor working conditions led to industrial action on several occasions, including strikes. The first of note was a strike by members of the Gambia Company, West African Frontier Force, in 1904. In response to low wages, the soldiers deserted their posts, held demonstrations, and refused to work.[3] Beginning in 1919, dock workers in Kuntaur took direct action in response to groundnut merchants cutting their wages. This strike was described as a "riot" by the colonial government, and was blamed on the dockworkers having developed a "Bathurst mentality" and having experienced the "accompaniments of civilization."[1] Following this strike, the colonial government asserted more control over the wharf towns, and police presence increased.[1] A tong was declared in Kuntaur in 1923 for similar reasons, but this was supported by colonial officials. This is likely because a tong conjured the prospect of rural rebellion as it was backed by tradition and had a powerbase in the villages, whereas a strike did not.[4]

During the 1920s, there was increasing collective action in Bathurst. The Carpenters' and Shipwrights' Society went on strike in 1921,[5] and mechanics went on strike in the same year for higher wages, which they achieved. The state had intervened in the latter strike and had mediated between the workers and the employers, and reviewed the cost of living in the city. This created an expectation among other workers of further concessions, while the colonial government imagined it had settled the "labour question" for the foreseeable future.[6]

The first Gambian trade union – Bathurst Trade Union (BTU) – was founded during an industrial dispute by artisans and labourers in Bathurst, the capital city of The Gambia. At the time, the country was still under British colonial rule, and would remain that way until independence in 1965. The principal leader of the BTU was Edward Francis Small, a Gambian nationalist, journalist, and politician, who had led the Gambian branch of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA).[8] The BTU was founded in 1928, and in 1929 it opposed attempts by companies in Bathurst to reduce the wages of labourers from six shillings per diem to five shillings. The BTU asked the government to intervene and review the cost of living as it had done in 1921, but it refused to intervene or supplement wages.[9]

On 18 October 1929, 400 workers went on strike in Bathurst. The Gambian chamber of commerce, which represented employers, called on the colonial government to prohibit picket lines and it agreed, using the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875. Unable to picket, labour leaders such as Small were forced to build support for the strike among workers, thus reducing the need for a picket. Small proposed a 25-day sit-down strike and also worked to ensure hungry sailors would be supported. The majority of support from the strike came from sailors, masons, carpenters, shipwrights, and dock workers who were unable to successfully negotiate with employers without a union - other workers in Bathurst secured deals independently of the trade union.[8][10]

On 6 November, police were called in to disperse a crowd of 100 striking workers. On 10 November, a crowd of 200-300 strikers blocked traffic and shut down main avenues in Bathurst. Police dispersed the crowd following a bayonet charge. Throughout the night police continued to raid the town looking for strikers. Two police officers and one striker were submitted to hospital with injuries.[11] The incident caused outcry in Bathurst and the employers hurriedly organised a conference with the union, during which substantial wage increases were conceded.[8]

A logo of Profintern, which oversaw the ITUCNW.

Small spent much of 1930–32 trying to secure foreign financial assistance for the BTU, and left the running of the union in the hands of his lieutenant, Thomas Collingwood Fye, during this time. Small had managed to alienate the colonial government and the Colonial Office by affiliating the BTU to the League against Imperialism (LAI) and the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers (ITUCNW), which were both organisations associated with Comintern and the latter with Profintern in particular. The BTU was also affiliated by the Labour Research Department (LRD), which mobilised support for the BTU during the 1929 strike.[12]

In July 1930, Small attended the International Conference of Negro Workers in Hamburg, which was organised by the ITUCNW. Small gave a speech at the conference and was subsequently elected to the ITUCNW executive and appointed associate editor of its newspaper, The Negro Worker. Small may also have attended the fifth conference of Profintern later in the year.[13] Following this, Small was branded a Communist sympathiser by the Colonial Office and was harassed by West African colonial governments, who restricted his travel and removed his privileges.[13]

The 1929 strike apparently influenced Sidney Webb's 1930 Passfield Memorandum, which, among other things, stipulated that British colonies should establish constitutional mechanisms for registering trade unions. This was resisted in most colonies other than The Gambia, where it was seen as an opportunity to weaken Small's influence. The Legislative Council passed a Trade Union Ordinance in December 1932 and it received Royal Assent a month later. In March 1933, three of Small's political opponents registered the 'Bathurst Trade Union', which was approved despite Small's complaints. Philip Cunliffe-Lister, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, refused to intervene on the advice of the Gambian colonial government.[14] In the British House of Commons, Cunliffe-Lister said: "Registration of trade unions in the Gambia is now compulsory, and, according to the latest information in my possession, the only union so registered is the Bathurst Trade Union. I understand that Mr. Small is not a member of this Trade Union."[15]

Edward Francis Small founded the Gambia Labour Union (GLU) in 1935, after losing control of the BTU.[16] The GLU was an affiliate of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) from 1949 to 1962. It was also affiliated to the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions and its African branch, the Pan-African Union of Believing Workers.[17] According to Perfect, the GLU was never an effective union, and after Small's death in 1958 it served as "little more than a social club for his former associates."[18] Its leadership in 1960 were retired senior artisans and civil servants, who took part in trade unionism "on a part-time basis" as they did not believe in strike action.[18]

In the 1940s, I. M. Garba-Jahumpa became secretary of the GLU. Garba-Jahumpa and Small worked together for a time but later quarralled and the former left the GLU, later forming the Gambia Amalgamated Trade Union (GATU).[16] The GLU rekindled its relationship with Garba-Jahumpa, and following the 1962 election it became affiliated with Garba-Jahumpa's political party, the Gambia Congress Party (GCP).[19] However, the political impact of the GLU prior to independence in 1965 was "very limited." None of its leaders stood for election, it did not attend constitutional talks with the United Kingdom, and it opposed the general strikes called by the Gambia Workers' Union (GWU) in 1960 and 1961.[19]

The Gambia Workers' Union (GWU) was founded in late 1956 by M. E. Jallow. Jallow had worked in government service and the commercial sector before organising the workers of the Gambia Construction Company into a society. This society then became the GWU, with Jallow as General Secretary, and was officially registered in July 1958. Jallow worked with former GLU general secretary A. W. Loum to build up the union, which then began to stir labour unrest in the Bathurst docks in August 1959. The GWU led a series of strikes, which led to wage and bonus increases for dock workers. This success led other labourers in the city to join the GWU.[20]

In February 1960, the GWU led a general strike. This strike had three motivations: to challenge the Gambia Oilseeds Marketing Board (GOMB) which had signed a contract for its groundnut steamers to be loaded by non-unionised labour, to seek official recognition from the government and revise the mechanism of wage negotiation, and to prove its effectiveness to all workers in Bathurst by securing a vast minimum wage increase.[21] Following the strike, the GOMB reverted to employing unionised labour, the outdated labour machinery was transformed by the establishment of Joint Industrial Councils, and the government's minimum wage was raised by 25%. The union led a second general strike in January 1961 after negotiations broke down over a 90% increase in the minimum wage. This strike was also successful, as it led to a further 13% increase in the minimum wage, and the government and employers were forced to concede a check-off system of dues collection.[22]

The GWU affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and its African Regional Organisation (ARO) in 1963. It was also affiliated to the African Trade Union Confederation (ATUC), the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITWF), and the International Federation of Petroleum and Chemical Workers (IFPCW).[17]

After he left the GLU in the 1940s, I. M. Garba-Jahumpa persuaded a number of other trade union leaders to join with him and in January 1947 he founded the Gambia Amalgamated Trade Union (GATU) as a rival to the GLU. According to Hughes and Perfect, "there can be little doubt that this was a deliberate maneuver designed to secure him votes in the forthcoming Legislative Council election."[23] A European trade union officer, "sympathetic to [Garba-Jahumpa] and hostile to Small", claimed that in 1947 GATU possessed between 250 and 1000 members, and the GLU less than 50.[24] Small won the subsequent 1947 election and the GATU was wound up in 1948.[25]

Another trade union that was founded in order to improve support in an election was the Motor Drivers' and Mechanics Union (MDMU), founded by John Colley Faye ahead of the 1951 Legislative Council election.[26]

Unlike several other African countries, the trade unions in The Gambia "did not feature prominently in stimulating or organizing radical opposition to the government" prior to independence.[27] Perfect has argued that although the political impact of the GWU far outweighed that of the GLU, its importance "should not be overstated."[28]

Following independence in 1965, the Gambia Workers' Union (GWU) opposed the Republic Bill proposed by the People's Progressive Party (PPP) government under Dawda Jawara. They did so as they believed Jawara was seeking to remove constitutional safeguards that prevented him restricting trade unions and banning strikes.[29] In response, PPP politicians revived the National Farmers and General Workers Union (NFGWU), originally founded in 1964, to draw members away from the GWU and weaken its campaign.[30] The GWU campaign was ultimately successful, and in February 1967 the GWU called the first post-independence general strike, demanding wage increases. This campaign failed as the government had carefully prepared. In January 1970, it called another general strike, which again failed, as the government had carefully prepared and because it was depicted as an anti-PPP political strike.[31]

The Gambia Labour Union (GLU) opposed all the general strikes called by the GWU post-independence.[29] The union became a close ally of the PPP government.[29] In the mid-1960s, it adopted a Marxist ideology and in 1967 it affiliated to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). The GLU had a particular admiration for the North Korean leader, Kim Il-sung, and it awarded scholarships to a number of young Gambians to attend the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, Russia.[32]

The GWU sought to call a general strike in 1977 in support of sacked Gambia Utilities Corporation (GUC) workers, but it was suppressed by the government. In January 1977 the GWU was deregistered.[33]