Appendix 9.2 Strikes and lockouts in collective bargaining
PART IV of the Tanzania Employment and Labour Relations Act, and Regulations, 2007
- – (1) The role of strikes and lockouts in collective bargaining as the core for em-
ployer and employees is to resolve matters of mutual interest and lock themselves
without outside interference.
(2) Although a measure of last resort, strikes and lockouts are forms of lawfully
sanctioned economic pressure in order to resolve disputes of interest between em-
ployers and their employees. A strike and lockout are temporary applications of
pressure in the collective bargaining process. Their purpose is not to unnecessarily
damage the organization. - – (1) The object of a strike or lockout is to settle a dispute and shall come to an
end if the dispute that gave rise to it is settled.
(2) The dispute may be settled by an agreed compromise or a return to work. An
agreed compromise normally shall take the form of a collective agreement. - – (1) The subject matter of a lawful strike or lockout is limited to disputes of interest
only, although it is not normally permissible to strike or lockout in respect of dis-
putes of interest in an essential service. Those disputes are referred to compulsory
arbitration, if mediation fails.
(2) Subject to sub-rule (1), a dispute of interest on the other hand is a dispute over
labour matter in respect of which an employee does not have an enforceable legal
right and the employee is trying to establish that right by getting agreement from
the employer.
(3) For the purpose of this Part, a complaint is defined as a dispute arising from
the application, interpretation or implementation of an agreement or contract with
an employee, a collective agreement, a provision of the Act or any other adminis-
tered by the Minister of which a dispute of right or a complaint concerns those la-
bour matters that shall be decided by arbitration or the Labour Court provided that,
where an employer refuses to give the wage increase demanded by the employee,
a dispute over that refusal is a dispute of interest and may only be resolved by an
agreement that may be induced by the resort to industrial action.
(4) Dispute of interest may be: a dispute over a new collective agreement or the
renewal of an agreement;
(a) a dispute over what next year’s wages are going to be;
(b) a dispute over shorter working hours or higher overtime rates; or
(c) a dispute over a new retrenchment procedure or recruitment policy
(5) Dispute of right or a complaint may be the –
(a) failure to pay an agreed wage;
(b) to failure to comply with a provision of an employment contract;
(c) breach of a collective agreement; or
(d) contravention of the Act