Service and Solidarity: Domestic Workers, Informal Organising and the Limits of Unionisation in Zambia

Abstract

This article examines the varied forms of collective organising pursued by domestic workers in Zambia from the 1930s to the 2010s, from struggles to establish formal associations and trade unions to participation in informal strategies of joint action. The article demonstrates that, despite the efforts of successive groups of domestic workers and labour activists, formal workers' organisations have failed to secure broad support among the labour force or achieve significant improvements in domestic workers' rights. This resulted from the limited financial and organisational capacity of such organisations, the dismissive attitude towards domestic workers of colonial and post-colonial governments and the failure of workers' organisations to tailor their interventions to the broad, complex realities of domestic service. The formal labour movement model has been unsuccessful as a means of organising domestic workers both because of these limitations and because domestic workers could...