Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts Honours (BA Hons) in African Studies at the University of Cape Town by Riyaad Schroeder, February 1988. The aim of this dissertation is to study the history of the Food and Canning Workers Union and the African Food and Canning Workers Union both of which will hereafter be referred to simply as the Food and Canning Workers Union, since the two always operated as one. The division being necessitated by legislation which did not allow the formal participation of African Workers and their union in Industrial Relations from the period 1975-1986.