Paper short abstract:

Research endeavors on labour history in Cameroon suggest that much has been done. Yet the research and literature on trade unionism and labour movements in Cameroon still exposes some yawning gaps that calls for attention.

Paper long abstract:

The focus in this paper is to examine the birth organization, structure of Postal, Telegraph and Telephone union(PTT) in a comparative and transnational perspective. Why and how was this organisation organized at local level and why did it became a global actor? In the context of politics, how did the Cameroonian politics contribute to the rise and demise of PTT? How did the movement came into the global web of Postal Telegraph Telephone International (PTTI) and did that affiliation benefit in the movement? What were the dynamics responsible in the globalization of the PTT? The importance of telecommunication cannot be emphasized enough as historically very important in world history as well as African social history. In a world of renewed globalization, informed with intensified Information Communication Technology (ICTs), with cell phone communication almost causing a revolution in world communication it is important not to ignore such a working class history that had dealt with postal services long before modern ICTs came into place . Up till then the activities of the PTT in terms of dynamics which led to its rise, decline and fall has not caught the attention of researchers working on the history of such workers' union in Africa. The attempt here is to fill that gap using the materials dug out from the International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam archives, its library which I was opportune to work in it from 1st September 2012 to 31st January 2013.