Labour Law sometimes referred to as Employment law or Industrial Law is that branch of law

which is basically concerned with the various aspects of master-servant, employer-employee

relationship. It defines your rights and obligations as workers, union members and employers in
the workplace. Labour law gives specification of rights, obligations and it regulates and tells the
subjects on how they can conduct themselves on contractual terms and how they can enforce
their rights. In other words, labour law sets a forum or an institution to enable the effective
enforceability of both the employers’ and employees’ rights.
Labour law arose due to the demands of workers for better conditions, the right to organize, and
the simultaneous demands of employers to restrict the powers of workers in many organizations
and to keep labour costs low. Employers' costs can increase due to workers organizing to win
higher wages, or by laws imposing costly requirements, such as health and safety or equal
opportunities conditions. Workers' organizations, such as trade unions, can also transcend
purely industrial disputes, and gain political power - which some employers may oppose. The
state of labour law at any one time is therefore both the product of, and a component of, struggles
between different interests in society. Some Asian scholars have identified labour standards as
far back as the Laws of Hammurabi and rules for labour-management relations in the Laws of
Manu; Latin American authors point to the Laws of the Indies promulgated by Spain in
the 17th century for its New World. erritories.

None of these can be regarded as more than anticipations, with only limited influence on
subsequent developments. Labour law as it is known today is essentially the child of
successive industrial revolutions from the 18th century onward. It became necessary when
customary restraints and the intimacy of employment relationships in small communities
ceased to provide adequate protection against the abuses incidental to new forms of mining
and manufacture on a rapidly increasing scale at precisely the time when the 18th-century
Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the political forces that they set in motion were
creating the elements of the modern social conscience. It developed rather slowly, chiefly in
the more industrialized countries of Western Europe, during the 19th century and attained
its present importance, relative maturity, and worldwide acceptance only during the 20th
century
The history of labour law concerns the development of labour law as a way of regulating and
improving the life of people at work. In the civilisations of antiquity, the use of slave labour was
widespread. Some of the maladies associated with unregulated labour were identified by Pliny as
" diseases of slaves." In the early phases of development the scope of labour law is often limited
to the most developed and important industries, to undertakings above a certain size, and to wage
earners; as a general rule, these limitations are gradually eliminated and the scope of the law
extended to include handicrafts, rural industries and agriculture, small undertakings, office
workers, and, in some countries, public employees. Thus, a body of law originally intended for
the protection of manual workers in industrial enterprises is gradually transformed into a
broader body of legal principles and standards, which have basically two functions: the
protection of the worker as the weaker party in the employment relationship, and the
regulation of the relations between organized interest groups (industrial relations).

A serious outbreak of fever in 1784 in cotton mills near Manchester drew widespread public
opinion against the use of children in dangerous conditions. A local inquiry presided over
by Dr Thomas Percival, was instituted by the justices of the peace for Lancashire, and the
resulting report recommended the limitation of children's working hours. Child labour was not
seen as a problem throughout most of history, only disputed with the beginning of universal
schooling and the concepts of labourers' and children's rights. Use of child labour was
commonplace, often in factories. In England and Scotland in 1788, about two-thirds of
persons working in water-powered textile factories were children.A lengthy campaign to limit
the working day to ten hours was led by Shaftesbury, and included support from
theAnglican Church. Many different groups, including many Quakers, workers, and even some
factory owners like John Fielden also supported it. Many committees were formed in support
of the cause and some previously established groups

Following World War One, the Treaty of Versailles contained the first constitution of a
new International Labour Organization(ILO) founded on the principle that "labour is not a
commodity", and for the reason that "peace can be established only if it is based upon social
justice".ILO's primary role has been to coordinate international labour law by issuing
Conventions. ILO members can voluntarily adopt and ratify the Conventions. For instance,
the first Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919required a maximum of a 48-hour week, and
has been ratified by 52 out of 185 member states.

In Tanzania, the very first trade union of the Tanzania was the Motor Drivers Union
which was formed in the year 1927. In the year 1937, the Asian workers formed the Asiatic
Labor Union which led to the formation of many unions in Tanzania. These organizations did
not have any involvement in the industrial conflicts. Their main objective was to help their
members. The beginning of the modern labor movement in Tanzania dates back to 1940s. Five
unions were formed by the year 1947 which were registered by the authorities. The
government of the colonies was against the formation of the unions and had enacted laws to keep
the movement low
Employment and Labour Relations Act, 2004 This Act was passed as law in the parliament on
the 14th April 2004 and assented on the 6th day of June 2004The Act was enacted to
make provisions for core labour rights, to establish basic employment standards to provide a
framework for collective bargaining, to provide for the prevention and settlement of
disputes, and to provide for related matter. The Act does not apply to the Tanzania Peoples
defence Forces, the Police Force, the Prisons services or the National services. However sections
6 and 7 which deal with prohibition of child labour, forced labour and discrimination
respectively applied to members of forces and services

The Objects of the Employment and Labour Relations Act, 2004 A major concern of Labour
Law is basically on;
i. The aspect of labour power, that is to say capacity of a person to work.
ii. Another concern is a relationship between capital and labour.

According to Duddington, J, employment law (labour Law) is divided into two parts;
i. The relationship between employers and those who work for them (employees or
workers). i.e. individual employment law (includes right to wages, health and safety e.t.c)
ii. The relationship between employers and groups of employees or workers. He reefers this
as collective employment which includes the law on trade unions, strikes and other industrial
actions
The Employment and Labour Relations Act 2004 and its success in Tanzania ,This part provides
as to what extent are the objectives of the Employment and Labour Relations Act, 2004 have
been successfully fulfilled in Tanzania, particularly by looking at what has been established by
the Act itself and the feedback on the accomplishment of what has been established in
reflection of the Act objects.
1.4.1 Establishment of the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration
(CMA) and the Labour Court The Labour Institutions Act establishes the organs which are
responsible to settle labour disputes while the Employment and Labour Relations Act
provides for the procedure to be used in settling labour disputes. This Act is enacted to establish
the labour institutions and provide for the functions, powers and duties of institutions, these
institutions includes the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration (CMA) and the Labour
Court which are established by part III and VII of the LIA respectively. Since its establishment a
number of cases have been successfully decided to the satisfaction of parties, the employer and
employee.
1.4.2 Establishment of the Employment and Labour relations (Code of Good Practice) Rules,
2007
Apart from these principle legislations there are rules that are enacted to apply with these
principle legislations these rules are; The Employment and Labour relations (Code of Good
Practice) Rules, 2007 which came into force by GN no. 42 of 16th February 2007.
Promotion of the Right to Work The right to work may imply among other things, the right to
demand for better and fair wages, the right to withhold labour by use of strikes and
othermeans.
Article 22 of The Constitution provides for the right to work. This right is absolute. This right
goes hand in hand with the right of every citizen to be afforded equal opportunity and with equal
condition to occupy any position in the service of the United Republic To the larger extent the
right to work is aligned with the very survival of an individual and the society in whole. It is said
to be closely related to the right to life t hat being the case the right to work requires legal
protection of Great Britain was of the view that ’’a man’s right to work is just as
important to him as if not more important than his rights of property. The courts intervene
everyday to protect rights of property. They must also intervene to protect the right to work
Mwalusanya, J, in Augustine Masatu v Mwanza Textiles Ltdhad a view that for work to be
sustained, it requires that opportunities to be set open so that members of the society can strive
their material necessities of life. In his own words he stated inter alia that ‘’for this right to
exist in a real sense, it is necessary that economic, political and legal order of the society
assure everybody who is capable of working of the possibility of participating in building his
society through work in accordance with his capacity and education and the right to earn an
income proportion to the quantum of his work. And so job security is the hall-mark of the whole
system’’ The right to work is the product of a long term and historic struggle of the working
class against capital and exploitation of labour.
1.4.4 The right to fruit of one’s labour
Article 23 of the constitution provides that every person is entitled to remuneration
commensurate with his work without any kind of discrimination. This remuneration will
take into consideration the ability of the person working and the nature of work done. These
remunerations must be just. It is said that labour is one of the most treasured assets that human
beings have Labour does not only guarantee generation of wealth but also guarantees the
very survival of human beings, therefore its protection is a crucial matter. Hence labour laws
should be able to cutter for these constitutional provisions by providing provisions that
protect and profess the right to work in which the current Act have provide for that as one
among the object to keep employers and employees relationships in good

1.4.5 Maintaining Employer’s Obligations The employer has obligation to provide work or
assignments to employee. If an employee fails to provide work to employee he will still have to
pay the wages to him for the whole time he failed to provide work. The Act provided for this. It
provided inter alia that, this obligation will be maintained unless the employee has broken his
contract or there is an Act of God. In the case of Mathew Leonard Kato v National Poultry Co.
Ltd, the court issued a declaratory judgment to the effect that the appellant was in
continuous employment all the time of his termination Mackaja j stated that, ‘so long as payment
of wages is one of the express terms of the contract of employment, the employee fulfils
his part of the bargain by placing himself under the control of his employer who at once is
required to assign him work. Whether or not work is assigned, the employee becomes entitled to
his wages’’. According to Sikalumba, A.J a rule of practice suggest that an employee has a duty
to obey his employer’s lawful orders and the employer has to reciprocate that by treating
the employee with respect, high level of confidence and trust . In the case of Kihanira
Kilunge Kibaya v UnitedAfrica Company of Tanzania Ltd the appellant complained that his
supervisors victimised him when they served him a notice of termination of contract. He
was not promoted instead his juniors were promoted and his supervisor assigned his tasks to
unskilled juniors to spoil his reputation, because the basis of his termination was that he
performed poorly. The court was of the view that public policy in this country prohibits
victimization in employment.
1.4.6 Maintaining Employee’s Obligations
The employee is duty bound to obey all lawful and reasonable orders and instructions concerning
his work from his employer. Failure to abide to this duty may result to disciplinary actions
against the employer either by established code of conducts by the employer or by general
disciplinary actions as established by labour laws. If there is misconduct or, where employee
disobeys lawful orders. This is defined as termination of contract of employment without
notice.
conclusion
It is a disciplinary measure taken by the employer.Despite of having a number of successful,
the Act also have some challenges in some of its provisions which in one way or another
may distort the main objective of labour law regarding to the equilibrium between the
rights of employees and employers. As discussed by Jaba Shadrack that; The new law provides
no grounds for employees to embark on a conflict of rights.
(ii) Gives workers the right to strike on disputes of interests on the one hand, and indirectly
denies it on the other. For example, Section 75 of the Act gives employees the right to strike
but the right should be in line with limitations stated thereto. This is due to the facts that,
Workers strike for a variety of reasons, but the mostly for economic reasons such as poor
remuneration, poor working tools, an unfavourable working environment, lack of motivation
and dissatisfaction. Section 80 stipulates that before engaging in a strike, workers should
ensure that the dispute is of interest and that the dispute has gone through mediation and
remains unresolved after mediation. The law also calls for a trade union to approve the strike
through a ballot conducted under union constitutions. The prevailing legal discrepancy is costly
to the employees especially when engaging in disputes, because failure to meet the
conditions necessary to the strike might be taken to mean violation of laws, therefore civil
or criminal proceeding might be taken against them. Generally, the ELRA allows the right to
strike on the one hand, and indirectly takes away the right by imposing strict conditions,
which workers must follow before they strike.
(iii) The Act does not define a contract of service and a contract for service. [The Labour
Institutions Act, 2004 under Section 61 provide for a presumptions as to who may be
deemed as an employee].
(iv) The ELRA is silent as to what happens to the employees' rights where
the employer is insolvent

reference
Sikalumba, A.J, (2003), legal aspects of Employment contracts and Dispute settlement schemes
in Tanzania