The Big Show na Wickama,
Ahsanteni kwa michango yenu mizuri.
Hakika ni faraja kubwa baada ya matusi, kejeli na kebehi zilizotawala mjadala.
Nilikuwa nikiingia kuchungulia kisha natoka.
Naingia kuchungulia kisha natoka.
Kilichotawala jamvi ni matusi na ghadhabu.
Nimeshambuliwa sana na baadhi ya shutuma dhidi yangu nilishazijibu mara kadhaa huko nyuma na kutoa rejea kwa
wenye mashaka waingie Maktaba ya Chuo Kikuu Cha Dar es Salaam East Africana wakasome lakini hakuna hata mmoja
aliyefanya hivyo.
Sasa ikiwa husomi wala huulizi hizo rejea zinasemaje vipi utafanya mnakasha wa maana?
Si kitu.
Tutoke huko sasa na tusome na tufanye mjadala wa kistaarabu kama waungwana.
Kwa idhini yenu nataka nikae tena mbele yenu nitoe darsa kuhusu historia ya kudai uhuru wa Tanganyika.
Ningependa kuanza na vuguvugu la wafanyakazi dhidi ya ukoloni hapa Dar es Salaam 1948 ili tufungue mlango tumone
vipi Abdulwahid Sykes aliweza kutumia nafasi ile kujipenyeza TAA akachukua uongozi na kufanya aliyofanya akianzia na
kuunda TAA Political Subcommittee 1950.
Haya hapo chini yalitokea baada ya mgomo wa mwaka 1947.
Insha Allah nitalichukua darsa awamu kwa awamu hadi tufike mwisho wa kisa:
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[TD]Abdulwahid Sykes and Dockworkers Union, 1948
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[TD="width: 752, bgcolor: transparent"]In 1948 the colonial government brought into the country a professional trade unionist, G. Hamilton, from Britain who was seconded to the Labour Department to advise the union on the principles of collective bargaining.
Hamilton shared the same office with Barakat and fully engaged him as his assistant in the establishment and setting up of the union.
Hamilton had been a docker with the Port of London and had wide experience in port unrests.
The offices of the Dockworkers Union were in a wooden shack with corrugated iron roofing situated in front of the Avalon Cinema where now stands the Regional Immigration Office.
All meetings were held there and were attended by Hamilton and Barakat from the Labour Department and Abdulwahid and his executive committee representing the Union.Hamilton was living at Gerezani European Quarter where there are now the Railway Quarters.
Abdulwahid was living at Stanley (called Aggrey Street after independence in honour of Dr Aggrey and later to be renamed Makisi Mbwana Street after one of the founding fathers of TANU) not far from Hamiltons house. During the early days of the setting up of the union, Hamilton worked very closely with Abdulwahid, at times visiting him at his house to thrash out problems.
It was quite a spectacle to see Abdulwahid and a white man sitting on the veranda talking or bending over a mass of papers.
In those days Africans perceived Europeans to be superior beings and could only watch Abdulwahid rubbing shoulders with a white man with awe.
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[TD="width: 752, bgcolor: transparent"]The creation of the union and the bureaucracy that subsequently developed with it, typical of any formal organisation, created a new problem for Abdulwahid. Collective bargaining demands participation of all interested parties to a labour dispute.
Dockworkers demands had first to be discussed by the executive committee of the union and then Abdulwahid had to submit them to their representatives.
Then at a later stage the demands had to be discussed by all parties including Hamilton and Barakat from the Labour Department. Abdulwahids writing flair, his knowledge of shorthand and his good command of the English language helped greatly in pushing forward quickly most of the unions paperwork.
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[TD="width: 752, bgcolor: transparent"]Unfortunately, very few decisions were made and most of the time negotiations seemed to be stalling. No meaningful decisions or agreements were ever concluded. To the dockworkers, the new system was tedious, cumbersome and time-consuming.
Negotiating was a new experience to them and something they had not bargained for.
This created industrial unrest within the Dockworkers Union itself. Abdulwahid now faced an entirely new problem, a precarious situation which threatened to break the Union and destabilise his leadership. He could not negotiate directly with shipping companies, nor could he negotiate at his own speed and style.
He informed union members of his predicament.
He made it clear to them that the labour conditions obtaining at the moment did not favour militant action against the shipping companies or their agents.
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[TD="width: 752, bgcolor: transparent"]Seeing no quick progress in their grievances the dockworkers began to exert pressure on Abdulwahid to speed up negotiations; otherwise they threatened to call a strike of their own without official backing of the Union. The method of negotiation for solutions to industrial conflict therefore became a source of friction.
Union members continued to put pressure on Abdulwahid to refuse negotiating and to call for immediate strike action.
Abdulwahid at that time was a young boy of 24 years.
An internal crisis within the leadership of the union ensued and the dockworkers once again resorted to marches in processions between the union office and Abdulwahids house, pressurising him to call for strike action against the stevedoring companies.
During the period of internal crisis which was threatened to split the union, Abdulwahid, Barakat and Hamilton were in constant contact using both their personal capacities as well as their official positions and government authority to avert a split in the union leadership.
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Darsa itaendelea Insha Allah...