Confédération africaine des travailleurs croyants (French West Africa and Togo)

The Confédération africaine des travailleurs croyants ('African Confederation of Believing Workers', abbreviated C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo) was a trade union confederation in French West Africa and Togo. C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo was founded in Ouagadougou July 8–15, 1956 by the West African branches of the French trade union centre C.F.T.C. David Soumah became the first president of C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo.[1]

Profile

When adopting the name of the new, autonomous organization the word 'Christians' (used in the C.F.T.C name) was changed into the 'Believers', seeking to accommodate Muslim workers.[2][3] However, C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo continued to be funded by the Catholic Church and became an affiliate of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions.[3][4]

Organization

C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo had its headquarters in Dakar.[5] The movement had its main strongholds in Togo, Dahomey and Upper Volta.[6] C.A.T.C. was the dominant union movement in Upper Volta.[7] Joseph Ouédraogo was the leader of the C.A.T.C branch in Upper Volta.[8] Maurice Yaméogo, who later became the president of Upper Volta, had been active in C.A.T.C.[9]

Relations with U.G.T.A.N

C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo participated in the conference held in Cotonou on January 16, 1957, which founded the U.G.T.A.N trade union centre. C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo abstained from participating in the election to the provisional executive of U.G.T.A.N, claiming that they wished to confer with their member organizations on affiliation to the new pan-African organization. In the end C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo remained outside of U.G.T.A.N, as they wished to maintain their profile as a non-political union organization.[10] Whilst U.G.T.A.N became the dominant force in the Francophone West African labour movement, with around 90% of the organized unions affiliated to it, C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo organized the majority of the non-U.G.T.A.N unions.[6]

U.P.T.C

In January 1959, C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo participated in the founding of a new regional organization, Union panafricaine des travailleurs croyants (U.P.T.C), chaired by the Congolese Gilbert Pongault.[11] The C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo branches in French Soudan, Mauritania, Niger, Togo, Dahomey and Upper Volta became affiliated to U.P.T.C.[5]

Legacy

The Ivorian branch of C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo had separated from the regional organization, and became the Centre national des travailleurs croyants de Côte d'Ivoire.[12] The former regional branch of C.A.T.C-A.O.F-Togo in Dahomey was dissolved on November 17, 1962 as the Dahomeyan government had opted for a one-party system.[13] C.A.T.C-Togo later assumed the name Confédération togolaise des travailleurs croyants.[14] The Upper Volta C.A.T.C would later become the Confédération nationale des travailleurs du Burkina.[8]

References
  1. Meynaud, Jean, and Anisse Salah Bey. Trade Unionism in Africa. Lond: Methuen, 1967. pp. 59-60, 166
  2. Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice. Africa: The Politics of Independence and Unity. Lincoln, Neb. [u.a]: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2005. p. 182
  3. Kabeya Muase, Charles. Syndicalisme et démocratie en Afrique noire: l'expérience du Burkina Faso, 1936-1988. Abidjan: Inadès édition, 1988. p. 44
  4. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 117
  5. Meynaud, Jean, and Anisse Salah Bey. Trade Unionism in Africa. Lond: Methuen, 1967. p. 164
  6. Kabeya Muase, Charles. Syndicalisme et démocratie en Afrique noire: l'expérience du Burkina Faso, 1936-1988. Abidjan: Inadès édition, 1988. p. 9
  7. Kabeya Muase, Charles. Syndicalisme et démocratie en Afrique noire: l'expérience du Burkina Faso, 1936-1988. Abidjan: Inadès édition, 1988. p. 228
  8. Kabeya Muase, Charles. Syndicalisme et démocratie en Afrique noire: l'expérience du Burkina Faso, 1936-1988. Abidjan: Inadès édition, 1988. p. 55
  9. Kabeya Muase, Charles. Syndicalisme et démocratie en Afrique noire: l'expérience du Burkina Faso, 1936-1988. Abidjan: Inadès édition, 1988. p. 71
  10. Meynaud, Jean, and Anisse Salah Bey. Trade Unionism in Africa. Lond: Methuen, 1967. p. 60-61
  11. Kabeya Muase, Charles. Syndicalisme et démocratie en Afrique noire: l'expérience du Burkina Faso, 1936-1988. Abidjan: Inadès édition, 1988. p. 50
  12. Contamin, Bernard, and Harris Memel-Fotê. Le modèle ivoirien en questions: crises, ajustements, recompositions. Paris: Editions Karthala, 1997. p. 560-561
  13. Meynaud, Jean, and Anisse Salah Bey. Trade Unionism in Africa. Lond: Methuen, 1967. p. 168
  14. United States. Labor Digests on Countries in Africa. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1966. p. 119
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