In late 1949, a group of coal miners in Enugu, the Nigerian city that was then the administrative capital of the British Eastern Region, launched a ‘go-slow’ protest, significantly reducing their productivity. Their grievances: poor working conditions, a poor welfare package, and unpaid salaries.
It was not their first rodeo. The miners had taken part in a country-wide general strike over the cost of living four years earlier, protesting in solidarity with workers from other industries. Back then, the colonial authorities had responded by locking the miners out of the mines, fearing they would seize control of the highly lucrative coal production.
This time, in 1949, the miners occupied and picketed their workplace. They were insistent that the colonial authorities listen. They were unarmed.
