EL RECLUTAMIENTO

In this chapter I have tried to demonstrate that the widely accepted notion of a general lack of ‘trade union consciousness’ among female workers needs some qualification, at least as far as female workers at the Tole Estate go.28

It is true that women’s participation in daily trade union affairs is low. Female pluckers at the Tole Estate participate little in the decision-making process and rarely compete for office. Undoubtedly this must be attributed among other causes, to their illiteracy and lack of time as well as to the union’s patriarchal structure.

However, I disagree that low participation in trade union affairs necessarily implies a low degree of ‘trade union consciousness’. Female pluckers at the Tole Estate have learnt to perceive the union as the ‘normal’ intermediary channel for settlement of their individual and collective grievances with management. And they are ready to participate actively in any action taken by union leadership in defence of their occupational interests.

I have stressed that their support for the union is still highly conditional and instrumental. They expect the union to represent their interests effectively and ‘deliver the goods’. If such expectations are not met, they are inclined to bypass the union. The establishment of state control over the union has brought about a crisis of confidence in the union leadership and Staff Representatives. Women’s growing dissatisfaction with the union’s representation of their interests is manifested in their attempts (i)

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to appeal directly to the Labour Inspector for the settlement of individual and collective grievances and (ii) to revert to alternative modes of resistance, in particular to informal and collective actions.

Notes

1. The check-off system was introduced into the corporation in February 1963; and, in 1966, 94% of the CDC workers were check-off members. See CDC Annual Report and Accounts for the year 1966. 2. See Letter of Mr E.K. Lottin, Provincial Inspector of Labour, Buea, to General Manager of CDC, dated 8 May 1975, in File MEPS/ BU.338, Vol. I, Divisional Union of Agricultural Workers of Fako. 3. Minutes of Executive Meeting of the FAWU and MAWU held in the

CDC General Manager’s Office at Bota on 7 April 1975, in ibid.

4. See Closing Address by Mr C.P.N. Vewessee, President of FADUTU, during Divisional Workers’ Education Seminar for Fako Trade Union Leaders held at Limbe, 7-11 December 1982, in File MTPS/WCD/ BU.246/S.1/403, Divisional Union of Trade Unions of Fako. 5. Cameroon Post, 20-27 February 1991, p. 11.

6. Ibid., 2-9 May 1991, p. 15; and The Star, 7 May 1991, p. 1. 7. Cameroon Tribune, 9 April 1991.

8. The subject of Staff Representatives was taken up again in Order no. 10/MTPS of 17 June 1968; Articles 131-137 of the 1974 Labour Code; Order no. 21/MTPS of 28 October 1981; and Order no. 24/ MTPS of 27 July 1987.

9. See Speech by the President of the Executive Bureau of the CTUC during the Sensitisation Campaign for the Election of Staff Representatives of November 1987, in File MTPS/IDTPS/SWP/ BU.180, Vol. III, Dpt. Staff Representative Elections.

10. See Letter of Provincial Delegate of Labour, Buea, to Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Yaoundé, dated 18 January 1988, in File MTPS/SWP/BU.325, Vol. VI, National Union of Cameroon Workers. 11. See CDC Press Release no. 3, dated 22 February 1983.

12. See Letter of Mr R.A. Duncan, General Manager of CDC, to Senior Labour Officer, Buea, dated 26 August 1969, in BNA, File Si (1959) 9, Trade Unions.

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13. CDC Press Release no. 1, dated 10 January 1983.

14. CDC Circular G.2, dated 1 January 1976, Joint Consultative Meetings. 15. See Letter of Staff Representatives, Tole Tea Estate, to Provincial Inspector of Labour, Buea, dated 19 January 1983, in File MTPS/ SWP/BU.180/S.1, Vol. III, Election of Staff Representatives – CDC. 16. See Letter of Mr C.P.N. Vewessee, President of FAWU, to General Manager of CDC, dated 17 November 1982, in File MTPS/SWP/ LB.2, Vol. XVI, Complaints from CDC.

17. Letter of Mr C.P.N. Vewessee, President of FAWU, to CDC Administrative Personnel Controller, dated 14 December 1981, in File MTPS/SWP/VA.2, Vol. XV, Complaints from CDC.

18. Letter of Mr C.P.N. Vewessee, President of FAWU, to CDC Administrative Personnel Controller, dated 14 December 1981, in File MTPS/SWP/VA.2, Vol. XV, Complaints from CDC.

19. See Minutes of the Best Employee Contest held at the Estate Manager’s Office on the 15th November 1990.

20. République Unie du Cameroun (1983), Les conventions collectives de travail au Cameroun, Yaoundé: Éd. SOPECAM.

21. See Letter of Administrative Personnel Controller of CDC to Provincial Inspector of Labour, Buea, dated 2 May 1979, in File MEPS/ SWP/BU.124/S.2, Industrial Trade Disputes - CDC; and Letter Administrative Personnel Controller of CDC to Provincial Inspector of Labour, Buea, dated 20 October 1978, in File MTPS/SWP/ BU.180/S.1, Vol. III, Election of Staff Representatives - CDC. 22. Letter of Provincial Inspector of Labour to Minister of Labour and

Social Insurance, Yaoundé, dated 26 June 1979, in File MEPS/SWP/ BU.124/S.2, Industrial Trade Disputes - CDC.

23. For this account, see several letters and reports in File MTPS/SWP/ BU.180/S.1, Vol. III, Election of Staff Representatives - CDC. 24. See Minutes of Research Meeting with Permanent Staff Representatives

of Tole Tea Estate held on 1 November 1982, by Mr V.A. Bacha, Secretary, in ibid.; and Letter of Mr C.P.N. Vewessee, President of FAWU, to General Manager of CDC, dated 17 November 1982, in File MTPS/SWP/LB.2, Vol. XVI, Complaints from CDC.

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25. See Letter of Mr Justin S. Ekwa, Personnel Officer, to General Manager of CDC, dated 27 November 1982, in File CTUC/FAWU/10/Vol. 3, Complaints.

26. Letter of Mr E.K. Lottin, Provincial Inspector of Labour, to President of FAWU, Limbe, dated 10 December 1982, in File MEPS/SWP/ BU.189/S.1, Vol. III, Election of Staff Representatives - CDC. 27. Letter of Tole Tea Representatives to Provincial Inspector of Labour,

Buea, dated 19 January 1983, in ibid.

28. For a similar observation in the special South African situation, see Berger (1983 and 1992).

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