Abuse of workers at China-backed infrastructure project in Africa a "defining feature of labour relations", researchers warn

Investigating Sino-African labour relations at the Karuma hydroelectric dam in Uganda and published recently by Cambridge University Press, researchers Robert Wyrod and Kimberlee Chang urge African countries to introduce stronger worker protections to avoid situations as at Karuma "where [labour] abuse seems systemic".

"Unless African governments take a proactive role in monitoring and enforcing standards in a sector they define as strategic, Chinese state capital operates like any other form of transnational capital," they say.

Their findings suggest that there may be something at work beyond more classic labour conflicts related to pay, benefits and safety. They also stress that the abuse is not simply a language barrier issue.

Dams became some of the most controversial development projects, criticised especially for their environmental damage, displacement of communities, and loss of local livelihoods. Due to such criticisms, by the turn of the millennium the World Bank, along with other Western funders, had reconsidered how dams figured into their development portfolio, essentially retreating from this sector.

This shift in the role of hydroelectric dams in Western development funding coincided with the rise of a new player in global dam construction, particularly China. As part of China's ‘going global’ strategy aimed at finding new international markets for China's state-owned and private companies, China began promoting overseas dam construction, along with other large-scale infrastructure projects.

The researchers focuse on the Karuma Hydropower Project, a 600-megawatt power station on the Nile River in northern Uganda. When completed, the Karuma dam will be the largest in Uganda and one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa. While Uganda is a relatively small country, it has forged a strong partnership with China in recent years. This has resulted in an outsized range of China funded and/or constructed projects in Uganda.