This
chapter explores the relationship between trade unionists and employers in mining
companies in the Central African Copperbelt, and analyses the way workers
perceive this relationship. To do so, it focuses on union elections, as it is
during this period of heightened competition that trade unionists’ track
records are discussed, assessed and finally valued or rejected. Our argument is
that, although differences in union organisation on both sides of the border
trigger a distinct electoral dynamism, they manifest similar power games, the
same form of micropolitics of work. While on both sides trade unionists utilise
repurposed discourses of union strength in their interactions with members,
they are pragmatic in their dealings with management and justify this behaviour
by claiming that this is the best way to deal with the Western and Asian
managers that have been appointed since the mining boom in the 2000s. In their
view, ‘modern’ unionism is primarily based on dialogue and conciliation, rather
than on confrontation.