Delegates from eight countries and several educational centres gathered last week at Lome's Worker Education Centre for four days of discussions about the role of research and study in the area of contract negotiations in Africa.

The seminar was sponsored by the Regional Economic Study and Documentation Centre (CREDE).

Discussions in the seminar centred on several topics: the function and limitations of research by trade unionists; the activities of CREDE; contracts and negotiations in Zaire specially; recent developments in West African unionism; and problems of unionism and contract negotiations in certain countries, notably the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Senegal and Togo.

Delegates attended from Dahomey, Gabon, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Togo, France and Canada.

The conference was opened by M. Jean Silete, director of the Togo Worker's Education Centre.