The Bathurst Trade Union (BTU) was the first

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 c ...

and the first legally registered trade union in the African continent. Founded by

Edward Francis Small Edward Francis Small (29 January 1891 – January 1958) was a Gambian statesman who has been described as the "trailblazer of Gambian political consciousness." One of the few educated Africans in the Gambia Colony and Protectorate during th ...

in 1929 in Bathurst (now

Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

), the organisation emerged from the Carpenters' and Shipwrights' Society. In October the same year the BTU was joined by other craft associations. The BTU received support from the British

Labour Research Department The Labour Research Department (LRD) is an independent trade union based research organisation, based in London, that provides information to support trade union activity and campaigns. About 2,000 trade union organisations, including 51 national ...

and the British section of the

League against Imperialism The League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression (french: Ligue contre l'impérialisme et l'oppression coloniale; german: Liga gegen Kolonialgreuel und Unterdrückung) was a transnational anti-imperialist organization in the interwar period. ...

. In the fall of 1929, BTU led a 3-week strike and membership grew rapidly that by April 1930 membership stood at around 1,000. Later, the BTU was torn apart by internal divisions. In 1932 Small was challenged for the union's leadership by J. L. Njie. The conflict had both political and ethnic aspects (Njie was a Wolof). Njie had the support of the conservative elites of the city, who were uncomfortable with Small's activism. In March 1933, Njie registered the BTU with himself as its chairman. Small tried to regain power of the BTU for two years, but in May 1935 he broke away and formed the Gambia Labour Union instead. In the 1961 groundnut trade season,

Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof (22 October 1924 – 2 April 2011) commonly known as Cham Joof or Alhaji Cham Joof, (pen name: Alh. A.E. Cham Joof) was a Gambian historian, politician, author, trade unionist, broadcaster, radio programme director, ...

— a member of the Select Committee and an old protegế of Edward Francis Small together with his associates at the Gambia Workers' Union organised a national strikes against the British colonial authorities and the Chambers of Commerce. The purpose of that strike was to demand proper remuneration for the daily paid workers who were poorly paid. The strike went on for five days. In that strike, Joof jumped on the stage and proclaimed to his followers that he is going to set the country on fire if needs be but "nobody is going to work for them"

he British He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

Foroyaa ''Foroyaa'' is a newspaper located in Serrekunda, the Gambia. It was first launched in July 1987, and is owned by the People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), an opposition political party that was instrumental in b ...

Exclusive interview with Foroyaa Panorama (TRIBUTE TO ALHAJI A.E. CHAM JOOF"
(16 May 2011)

References

Banjul Trade unions in the Gambia Trade unions established in 1929 Defunct trade unions of Africa Edward Francis Small {{Africa-trade-union-stub

See also

References