WORKERS’ PARTICIPATION: THE CASE OF
FRIENDSHIP TEXTILE MILL AND TANESCO

I.J. Maseko.

1. Introduction

The Presidential Circular No. 1 of 1970 was issued with the in-
tention of involving the workers of Tanzania’s Parastatal Sector in
the running of these nationalised enterprises.! The Circular directs
that workers should participate in making decisions on matters
relating to planning, productivity, quality, quantity and
marketing.? The participatory powers of workers in decision-
making have been vested in the Workers’ Council where workers
are represented. The democratisation of the running of these
national institutions in Tanzania is seen by the political leadership
as a logical step in the process of putting all the commanding
heights of the economy in the hands of the people through State
ownership. Socialisation of the managerial role is thus seen as a
collorary to the socialisation of the means of production.

However, the issuing of the Circular per se, and even the
establishment of such institutions like the Workers’ Council do not
necessarily mean that workers do actually participate in the
management since other enterprises do actually participate in the
management since other enterprises can even neglect to establish
the machinery for participation. Others may establish the
machinery for the workers’ participation without giving the
workers chance to participate according to the provisions of the
Circular. It is the aim of this paper to try and assess workers’ par-
ticipation in decision-making through the Workers’ Council using
case studies of Friendship Textile Mill and the Tanganyika Electric

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