Annual report on Nigeria / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Nigeria / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    28/134 (page 26)
    (iii) The Cameroons Development Corporation Workers' Union and the Cameroons Development Corporation. The numerical strength of workers involved in this dispute, and the duration of the strike that began on 7th November, give it some prominence. The union, representing some 17,000 workers in the Cameroons, demanded increases in wages (notably from is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per day for general labour) and the removal from office of an administrative manager. After considerable efforts in conciliation, the strike was called off and work resumed on 4th December. Various wage increases were given, and arrangements made for additional supplies of essential commodities. (iv) The Colliery Workers’ Union and the Colliery Department. This dispute arose from a rumour that payment of a large sum of arrears of wages due to the workers was held up by the management of the Colliery Department. In an endeavour to force the management to grant their demand for higher wages and payment of the alleged arrears, the miners resorted to “ go-slow ” tactics. The management felt compelled to dismiss some 250 workers, mainly hewers who had had previous and final warnings. The situation deteriorated and the police who were called in to remove explosives from the mines, clashed with the miners, with the results already noted in Part I, page 5. LABOUR LEGISLATION A careful examination has been made of the Workmen’s Com¬ pensation Ordinance (No. 51 of 1941) so as to bring its provisions into line with modern standards. Rules have been promulgated governing the activities of Labour Advisory Boards, and Orders-in- Council were made fixing minimum wages and conditions of em¬ ployment for stevedores and dock labourers in the port of Lagos, and imposing further restrictions on the employment of women and young persons in the printing trade. The registration of industrial workers is now controlled in Lagos, and the Benin, Warri, and Plateau Provinces. Arrangements made between the Governor and the Governor- General of French Equatorial Africa, governing the employment of Nigerian labourers in forestry and industrial operations in the Gabon, were also published. The arrangements were based on the provisions of the treaty governing the employment of Nigerians in the Spanish Colony of Fernando Po. Chapter 3: Public Finance and Taxation REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE As this report was compiled before the close of the 1949-50 financial year, the detailed information given in this Chapter relates to the