The Emergence of Trade Unionism in the Asian-Owned Sugar Plantations in Kisumu County, Kenya, 1953-1963

Abstract

The paper examines the emergence of trade unionism in the Asian-owned sugar plantations n Kisumu County of Kenya. The sugar industry has continued to be a major player in the county’s economy to date. The article traces the nascent labour protests and strikes in thesesugar plantations and the impact of these protests and strikes.The working conditions in the Asian-owned sugar plantations were generally poor. However, African labourers never accepted the poor working conditions as a fait accompli. Rather, from the outset they made concerted attempts to ameliorate their working conditions through various methods such as desertion, evasion of harsh employers, strikes and later the formation of trade unions.Material for the article is derived from archival research, oral interviews and analysis of existing works on socio-economic history in general and the labour movement in particular.  It was through the establishment of colonial rule that Kisumu County was incorporated into the World Capitalist System. The paper affirms that labour consciousness in the sugar plantations emerged later compared to the urban workers ostensibly because of the unskilled and unstabilized nature of the labour force. The article concludes that the emergence of the Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation Workers (KUSPW) to some extent led to the improvement of the working conditions. The paper contributes to Kenya’s labour historiography.

Key words: Labour protests; migrant labour; plantation; sugar industry; trade unionism.