Industrial democracy and its advent in Zambia

Abstract

Industrial democracy is admittedly complicated in definition' I just as it is complicated in implementation. In this paper I have attempted to examine the concept of industrial democracy as I viewed by various authors, and how it has found its implementation in some countries before finally discussing its adoption in Zambia In so doing I have tried, in passing, to refer to few countries, such as Yugoslavia, Sweden, West Germany and Britain •« to create a trail for eventual focus on Zambia. I Conscious of the fact that the extent of industrial democracy implementation depends on the system of government of a particular: country, its laws and social structure, I have included Appendix 3(Zambia in perspective). This is intended to help those who are ; not very familiar with Zambia. This appendix is significant inappreciating Chapters IV, \k and VI. This paper covers three main areas, viz: i a) Conceptual nature of industrial democracy, its evolution in the developed countries, and its spill in the developing countries, -e.g. Zambia; b) Historical background of trade unionism in Zambia; c) Actual establishment of industrial democracy in Zambia by consensus. Industrial democracy and workers' participation have been used interchangeably. In an industrial setting the two concepts usually mean more or less the same thing.