too easily to be mistaken for success of a policy. Only slowly did it
come to be recognised that this was true only so long as there
were no volcanic pressures building up below the furface calm. In
fact, all the time the union was forfeiting the trust of the rank and
file with each passing day, because its functionaries even at the
lowest levels were generally careerists with few roots in the labour
movement and with correspondingly little sympathy for, or com-
mitment to, the one hundred and one petty problems that arise on
every job every day. Having lost their respect for the organisation
at this level, the workers naturally became less and less receptive
to those few educational efforts that were made by the union at a
higher level.

It was into this situation that workers’ participation was first in-
troduced, and it is not surprising that NUTA did not, perhaps
could not, make this issue its rallying point. Furthermore, what
emerges clearly from some of the discussions in the preceding
pages is that implementation of this policy cannot be standardised
or centralised. Solutions must be sought and worked out in every
enterprise and they will differ depending on the nature of the
management, the types of workers, the ownership patterns and
the particular problems arising in any one kind of production. The
role of NUTA in such a situation is again difficult, but it must en-
tail encouragement and guidance in working out specific solutions
which are consistent with a detailed and concrete conception of
industrial relations in a socialist Tanzania. This conception must it-
self extent beyond the question of the nature of worker-
management relations to encompass the issue of the political role
to be played by the labour movement.

The rest of this paper will seek to illustrate some of the general
points that have been made so far by reference to a particular
dispute in the construction industry, which highlights some of the
ways in which a rational and progressive approach to labour
disputes could lead to the beginnings of a labour movement
making a positive contribution to the Government’s socialist plan-
ning efforts.

The Dispute in Context

The dispute in question concerned a demand that all casual
workers should in future be employed on a permanent basis. This
demand was made by the labour force of the Mwananchi

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