The Formative Period of the Ethiopian Labour Movement, 1962-1974

As a result of internal and external factors, the imperial regime issued a labour relations decree, Decree No.49/1962 and recognized labour unions and employers' associations for the first time in the history of Ethiopian labour movement on 5 September 1962. This in turn resulted in the birth of the Confederation of Ethiopian Labour Union (CELU) on 9 April 1963 and the Ethiopian Employers' Federation (EEF) on 11 April 1964. In a nut shell, the years from 1962 to1974 can be taken as the formative years in the history of the Ethiopian labour movement. Therefore, this study tries to investigate the formative period of the Ethiopian labour movement in which workers sought to establish an independent labour union and undertaken stiff struggle to that end. As a qualitative research, the study used document analysis and in-depth interview to collect data. It also used thematic analysis to analyze the collected data. The findings of the study showed that the strong subordination of CELU to the state and the enduring internal power struggle among its leaders contributed a lot to the failure of the Ethiopian labour movement to establish an independent national confederation and to be an agent for the 1974 Ethiopian revolution.