APPRAISAL OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS AS A MEANS OF SETTLEMENT OF LABOUR DISPUTES IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

CHAPTER ONE

                        GENERAL INTRODUCTION

                        Background to the Study

Under the Labour Law, Trade Dispute, which is also called Labour Disputes originated from the interaction within an organized labour market.¹ From the historical perspective the origin of trade dispute in Nigeria can be traced to the coming in of the European Missionaries which actually marked the beginning of the real wage employment as foreign currencies and investments began to be introduced into Nigeria. As a result of the establishment and growth in these investments the need for employment into the modern industrial structure arose. This necessitated the influx of men into the paid employment which became a remarkable source of income to the working class. The problem of the rising cost of living and the inadequacy of wages to keep pace with the rise in price of goods and services made collective bargaining inevitable.

However, the inequality in bargaining power of an individual employee who cannot influence the amount of wages payable, or resist, if his employer demands of him an excessive number of working hours, or to force his employer to install safety devices and other protection against industrial hazards or accidents, made collective action by workers inevitable and subsequently prepared the ground and basis for the rise of modern trade unionism.² In a bid to resolving the emerging disputes to ensure stable development in the economy, parties resorted into employing local means of resolving disputes now known as Collective bargaining. It is an established fact that emergence of Industrialization and institutionalization of labour resulted into large number corporations in Nigeria, hence the need to ensure peace and harmonious disputes resolution for an effective service delivery. In the course of balancing legitimate expectations of employees and employers, to ensure steady and uninterrupted supply of goods and services, conflict is bound to occur.

Therefore, reconciliation of Labour Disputes leads to stability, and ensures peaceful co-existence between employees and employers. A forum to achieve a cordial relationship between employers and employees is necessary in order to achieve the said peaceful coexistence. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted conventions by providing framework for member states to enact laws that would foster such mechanism. In this respect, Nigeria has enacted the Trade Disputes Act³ and Wages Boards and Industrial Council Act,⁴which provide, among others, mechanism for amicable resolution of trade disputes via collective bargaining for the growth of the nation‟s economy and to discourage chaos within the labour industry.

The provision of International Labour Organisation (ILO), Article 2 of its Convention No. 154, adopted in 1981 by Nigeria defines collective bargaining as follows:

The term Collective Bargaining extends to an employer, a group of employers or one or more employer’s organizations, on the one hand, and one or more workers’ organizations on the other, for (a) determining working conditions and terms of employment; and or

(b) regulating relations between employer or their organizations and a workers’ organization or workers’ organizations.

Collective bargaining is a better mechanism employer(s) and employee(s) can adopt to agree on terms and conditions of employment.⁵ Despite the legal mechanism available to promote collective bargaining between parties, Nigerian workers and their trade unions suffer serious difficulties in bargaining with their employers. This has necessitated proposals to ensure greater protection of the Nigerian worker and bring Nigerian law and practice in line with minimum standards prescribed by the International Labour Organisation. In tracing the sources of the right to collective bargaining in Nigeria, it is pertinent therefore to state that collective bargaining is a mechanism in the Nigerian System of Industrial relations. Although, there is no express constitutional provision in Nigeria on the right to collective bargaining, the Constitution⁶provides that one of the economic objectives of the government is to ensure that;

The state shall direct its policy towards ensuring that (…) (b) conditions of work are just and humane and that there are adequate facilities for leisure and for social, religious and cultural life; (c) the health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safeguard and not endangered or abused (…)”⁷ The above provision also calls for collective bargaining legislation, to facilitate the achievement of these objectives via encouraging parties to always exhaust the opportunity offered by collective bargaining. The Nigerian System of collective bargaining is characterized by a  reliance on the principle of “voluntarism”. The concept of Voluntary collective bargaining has been accepted by all sides to the employment relationship.