Paper short abstract:

Based on archival sources and interviews, this paper examines the emergence of solidarity among informal transport workers in Dar es Salaam, their alliance with the Tanzanian transport union and their struggle to claim labour rights.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the political organisation by informal transport workers, and their partial achievements in claiming rights at work from employers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, from 1995 to the present. The paper takes issue with the influential view that trade unionism and work-place labourism are no longer a viable option for defending workers' interests. From less despondent approaches to the possibilities for labour(ism) it borrows the insight that making sense of workers' unrest requires a political economy approach. This entails, first and foremost, locating workers within their economic structure, and understanding their relationship to capital. The paper thus starts by sketching out public transport in Dar es Salaam, the employment relationship predominant in the sector and the balance of power between bus owners and workers. The paper then analyses workers' organisation since 1995, their goals and the strategy that workers developed in conjunction with the Tanzania transport workers union. The paper documents workers' partial achievements in achieving the formalisation of the employment relationship between bus owners and workers. The conclusion reflects on the broader lessons that can be learned from this case study.