Developing Integrated Collective Bargaining System in a Bi National Organization: The Case of the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA)

The Tanzania Zambia Railway stretches 1,860 kilometers from the East African Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri-Mposhi in land locked Zambia. It is defined as a bi-national organization as opposed to either transnational or multinational because it is jointly owned and managed by the Governments of Tanzania and Zambia. Its construction was made possible by Chinese interest-free loan to the two Governments. Few development projects in Africa have been charged with as much political and ideological dynamite as Tanzania Zambia Railway. To the Western powers, angry that the Chinese had entered territory which they considered their own preserve, it was a Red Railway intended to thrust communism into the very heart of Africa. For the white regimes in Southern Africa, grimly attempting to hold back demands for majority rule, it was seen as Africa’s Ho Chi Minh Trail, carrying guerrilla further, armed with Chinese thoughts and weapons to the banks of the Zambezi River. The Chinese regarded the project as a Friendship Route to strengthen the new African states against the forces of imperialism and for Tanzania and Zambia it was a Freedom Railway, which should prove an instrument in increasing their independence. These reactions underpin not only the complexity of the establishment and management of a bi-national organization but also present challenges to the two national trade unions on how best they can represent their members. Industrial relations literature has cited differences in countries’ historical, social, political, economic, and ideological background as the main obstacles in the development of collective bargaining machinery in transnational or multinational organizations. A study in Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority has attempted to develop an integrated bi-national collective bargaining machinery whose collective agreements are likely to be legally enforceable in their respective countries. This paper explores the development of trade unions in both Tanzania and Zambia which can be divided in three phases: first, the construction phase; second, the consolidation phase; and the third and final phase, trade union liberalization and political pluralism which covers the development of a bi national collective bargaining model with its Joint Industrial Council structure and negotiation procedures. The paper compares and contrasts trade union development in the two contracting states and critically examines how each phase has influenced trade union development. It provides a brief historical outline of collective bargaining process and spells out advantages and limitations of bi-national collective bargaining machinery. The paper concludes by observing that one of the main objectives of regional groupings is economic integration and suggests that integrated collective bargaining machinery be adopted as an ideal industrial relations model for regional groupings such as the African Union (AU), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), Eastern African Community, and other regional groupings around the world since it localizes industrial relations function in general and collective bargaining in particular.