GOVERNMENT IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

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The practice of industrial relations cannot be left in the hands of the union activists and the management of organizations.  There is the need for government to come in as an umpire to regulate to regulate the activities of the two principal actors in industrial relations matters. 

NEED FOR GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

The major actors in industrial matters are the unions and employers. The third actor which is government comes in as a regulatory agent. The need for regulation becomes apparent when one considers the divergence in the objectives and interests of unions in relation to those of employers.

Specific reasons for government intervention can be discussed thus:

a.       Government is the single largest employer of labour: it is believed that more than 70% of the working population is found in the public sector so government cannot be unconcerned industrial relations matters.

b.      It is the responsibility of the government to maintain law and order and to prevent unrest.

c.       Government is looked upon to regulate things by the articulate electorates. Regulatory rules on industrial relations thus becomes necessary.

d.      There is the need to avoid the resultant unemployment if all the wishes of workers are to be met. Only those in the system will be catered for and there would be no vacancy for others.

e.       The trend internationally is for government to intervene hence Nigeria cannot be an exception.

f.       For political reasons. To maintain stability and be in control and not be controlled.

g.      Leaving the labour market or industrial matters to the forces of demand and supply alone could lead to industrial instability and unrest. The economy itself could be pushed into a depressed state.

Government has the responsibility to make laws that will serve as reference points for all – both employers and employees.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONIST STRATEGIES

The interventionist strategies of government can be discussed thus:

a.       Government makes law, regulations and fashion out guidelines for the control of industrial relations actors. Such laws on minimum wage, hours of work, safety requirements are contained in the Acts, Decree and Ethics by various governments. The International Labour Organization requires member unions to “encourage and promote the full development and utilization of machinery for voluntary negotiations of employment”, the Factories Act, 1956, the Workmen Compensation Acts, the Trade Disputes Act, 1976, etc.

b.      Education and Training Programmes: the establishment of the Michael Imoudu Institute for Labour Studies in Ilorin

c.       Investigative and Advisory Methods: the setting up of fact finding panels ad mediating panels

d.      Judicial Methods: The Industrial Arbitration Panel and the National Industrial Court

e.       Funding Unions: Through the use of the Check-off system which makes it the obligation of members to contribute to the unions

f.       Arrest of union leaders, prosecutions of the unions and appointment of administrators to manage the affairs of some of the unions.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

The Federal Ministry of Labour, Employment and Productivity has defined collective bargaining in the traditional sense as, “negotiations about working conditions and the terms of employment between an employer, a group of employees and one or more employers’ organizations, on the other hand, and one or more representative workers’ organizations, on the other, with a view to reaching agreement. This definition is based on that of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

According to the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, “Collective bargaining is a process of decision-making. Its overriding purpose is the negotiation of an agreed set of rules to govern the substantive and procedural terms of the employment relationship, as well as the relationship between the bargaining parties themselves”. On his part, Fashoyin (1985) says collective bargaining takes place when a group of workers, represented by a union, enters into negotiation as a bargaining unit with an employer or group of employers with the object of reaching agreement on the conditions of employment for the workers concerned.

The principal functions assigned o collective bargaining are:

a.       that collective bargaining is a process of setting terms and conditions of employment

b.      that collective bargaining is the process of rule-making, since the union-management relationship is assured to be continuous. In the words of Professor Dunlop, bargaining power is “the ability of the two contracting parties to influence wage, in terms of these three factors namely taste of workers and employers, market conditions and pure bargaining power and especially in terms of the first two.

MARCHINERY

Like any other types of bargaining, agreements or disagreements are reached. Such agreements or disagreements are recorded. The points over which disagreements were recorded are re-negotiated until agreements are finally reached.

Collective bargaining is built on involuntary principle, that is, the two parties to it decide to meet without a third party compelling them to do so.

The machinery for collective bargaining can be discussed under three phases. They are

A.    PREPARATION OF THE DEMAND

The unions have to do some homework in getting facts and figures to support the demands being made. The preparation may take into consideration the present state of affairs regarding the conditions of service of workers, fair and unfair labour practices, standard of living of workers (whether it is worsening), comparative treatment of other workers in various sectors, the state of affairs of the employers (whether they are making huge profits or not) and the extent to which previously agreed conditions of service have been implemented by employers. Going into research by the unions is an added advice.

B.     PRESENTATION OF THE DEMANDS

God presentation is very crucial as this could make or mar the demands. The composition of the team to represent the union should include some specialist or professionals in the relevant areas such as law, personnel, accounting etc. and must be able to command respect. The delegates should have the mandate of the body being represented. The presentation should be logical, scientific and methodical so as to convince management and win issues being presented.

C.     PREPARATION FOR NEGOTIATION

An effective preparation for negotiation should be able to address the issues of when, who, where, how and what.

WHEN: the environment where the negotiation will take place. It should be conducive to meaningful dialogue to both parties and should be ideal for a round table conference.

WHEN: the timing of the presentation should be appropriate in terms of the prevailing economic, political and social conditions. Enough notice should also be given by both parties. Negotiations are better done towards the end of the financial year so that the demands can be reflected in the budget for the next year. This is often referred to as “Bargaining by the budget”. It should also take place during the official hours of the organization preferably 9 am to 12 noon.

WHO: the negotiators should be duly recognized members of the unions, in other words, accredited representatives with a leader or a spokesman. There could be a legal adviser and observer on both sides.

WHAT: the items being bargained for must be contained in the list of demands presented to the management. The items must be fair according to labour laws. Management can list its own counter items.

HOW: the collective bargaining machinery should not be regarded as a judicial venue. Rather it should be a round table conference, face to face and issues should be based on facts.

TECHNIQUES

The practice and techniques of collective bargaining could vary from place to place. In general, the techniques used could be classified into three namely:

        i.            Issues by issues approach

      ii.            Package (All together)

    iii.            Rap-up approach

Issues by Issue

As the name implies, the issues tabled for bargaining are taken one after another. Issues earlier agreed to may be revisited.

Package Approach

All items listed for consideration are treated as a package rather than issue by issue.

Rap-up Approach

Management considers some of the demands say six out of ten, some are selected for approval while the union is requested to delete the others.

Following some developments, collective bargaining is now at two levels: the enterprise and the national levels. At the enterprise level, the formal interaction is between the employer and the branch union. The Joint-Consultative committee (Management and workers). At the national level, there could be two sub-divisions. The first sub-division covers the machinery for collective bargaining between each employers’ federation and the relevant industrial union. The second sub-division involves dialogue on certain key labor matters between the Nigerian Labour Congress, the government and the Employers Consultative Association. In accordance to the procedural agreements concluded between employers’ federation and industrial unions in 1979, all those things that affect working relationships are grouped into two. The first group which the union consider more important because it includes wages and other monetary fringe benefits. The second group, which mainly items particular organization and the bulk of which is welfare in nature is negotiated at the enterprise level between the individual employer, matters for negotiation at the national level include:

Wage and Salaries, Annual leave, Overtime rates, Leave allowance, Hours of Work, Sick benefits, Maternity Leave, Housing allowance, out-of-station allowance, transfer/distance allowance.

Matters for discussion at the enterprise level include:

Method of production, increase efficiency, safety, welfare, training of workers, disciplinary procedures, Christmas bonus, scholarship awards, long-service awards, medical facilities and death benefits.

DISPUTES AND GRIEVANCES

In the process of interactions between unions and employers, there are bound to be disputes and grievances resulting from one issue to the other. It is in the interest of both the workers and the employers that such disputes or grievances are resolved amicably. Disputes could lead to strike actions, lock outs and both parties will be affected.

Trade dispute can be defined as a disagreement between worker union and management on issues concerning the condition of work. When unions feel bad about certain issues which affect its members negatively, it reports such issues to management. Refusal by management to look into such matters could lead to trade disputes.

IMPASSE

When management (Employer) and the union (of workers) cannot come to an agreement over an issue and the process of negotiation breaks down, there is an impasse.

STRIKE ACTION

This is the stoppage of work by the employees of an organization as a result of a trade dispute. There could be a sit-down-strike when all workers report for work but would sit down idle and refuse to work. There could be total strike when all workers refuse to report to their place of work. There could also be what has been termed “work-to-rule” or “go-slow” in which situation workers perform their duties at very low rates compared to the normal rate of work.

LOCK OUT

This is a situation when the management or an organization shuts its gates to the employers as a result of trade disputes. By this rule, no worker will be allowed by management to gain entry into the premises of the organization.

Sources of Disputes and Grievances

There is a potential conflict between the goals of the trade unions as determined by their members and the goals of the employer. Where people work together in an enterprise, many interests are to be found, some shared, some not. The employers want operations to be as successful as possible as judged by the profits while the workers want to earn more benefits.

Labour disputes may be grouped into two types, namely; disputes concerning an individual and disputes concerning the group, that is the union. In some cases, s dispute involving an individual may develop in a collective dispute. Generally, disputes involving an individual are over his rights.  Collective disputes may arise either because of a break down in collective bargaining agreement or the non-implementation of the whole or part of such agreements.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The machinery for the settlement of labour dispute in Nigeria are twofold. These according to Ubeku (1983) the internal machinery that is collective negotiated and an external machinery that is statutory and established by the state. The statutory machinery takes over when the internal machinery fails. The grievance procedure is used to settle individual grievance.

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

The worker is expected to take his grievance directly to his superior and if there is no satisfaction, the worker can take the matter further to his manager. The matter is still personal at this stage and no other person is involved. If there is no satisfactory resolution at the personal stage, the issue will be referred to the Personnel Manager and the local union secretary. If the matter does not receive satisfactory solution, individual grievance may become collective grievance involving the organization and may result in a strike. At this stage, the joint machinery starts to function and the matter may become a national issue. Should efforts at settlement fail, the matter is referred to the Minister of Labour and the Statutory machinery takes over.

With regards to collective disputes, attempts are made to resolve the matter at the local level by the two parties by involving a mediator. The mediator is considered to have experience in industrial relation matters and who is acceptable to both parties.  An important aspect of the settlement procedure is that when a dispute us dealt with or negotiations are underway, the parties must not resort to strikes or lock-outs. To do so would mean breaking the law.

The Minister of Labour may take the following steps:

        i.            Appoint a fit person to act as conciliator for the purpose of effecting settlement of the dispute

      ii.            Constitute a board of enquiry if there are difficulties in the way of conciliation or arbitration and if he considers that the public interest is involved.

    iii.            Where conciliation fails, he will refer the matter to the Industrial Arbitration Panel

    iv.            He may refer certain disputes to the National Industrial Courts directly. The four stages in the statutory machinery for the resolution of disputes are conciliation, arbitration, inquiry and the national Industrial Court. A dispute need not however go through all four stage.

CONCILIATION

The assumes that before a dispute is referred to the Minister of Labour, the parties must have exhausted the voluntary machinery for dispute settlement. If the attempt to settle the dispute under the voluntary machinery fails or if no such machinery exists in the particular organization, the parties shall within seven days of the failure to agree and meet together by themselves under the chairmanship of a mutually agreed upon and appointed by or on behalf of the parties, with a view to the amicable settlement of the dispute.

If within 14 days of the appointment of a mediator is not settled, the matter shall be reported to the Minister of Labour by or on behalf of the parties within 14 days. The report must be in writing and should indicate the points on which the parties disagreed and the steps already taken to effect settlement. The Minister may then, if satisfied that all reasonable steps to settle the matter have failed, refer the matter to a conciliator. The duty of the conciliator is to inquire into the causes and circumstances of the dispute and by negotiation with the parties to the dispute arrive at a settlement.  Where a resolution is reached within 14 days of his appointment, that conciliator must report the fact to the Minister of Labour by forwarding to him the memorandum of the terms of settlement signed by the representatives of both parties.

ARBITRATTION

Arbitration into industrial disputes in Nigeria is undertaken by the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP). An arbitration tribunal must make its awards within 42 days of its constitution, except where the Minister, in a particular case, allows a longer period. On receipt of the award of the tribunal, the Minister must publish the details of the award and allow some time (not more than 21 days) within which any of the parties to the dispute who may not be satisfied with the award may raise objections. If no notice of objection is given to the Minister within the time limit and in the manner specified in the original publication, the Minister will the publish in the Government Gazette a notice confirming the award shall be binding on the employers and the workers party to the dispute. If however a party to the disputes raises an objection to the award made by the tribunal, the Minister will refer the dispute for determination to the National Industrial Court.

THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT

The court members are appointed by the Federal Executive Council. The court’s jurisdiction is mainly appellate, that is issues that cannot be resolved at the Industrial Arbitration Panel are referred to it for ruling which is final on all industrial matters.

THE EFFECTS OF STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS

These situations arise when disputes are not amicably resolved as a result of disagreements between both parties (Workers and Employers representatives). The effects could be discussed thus

EFFECTS ON WORKERS

Strike actions are carried by the workers. On the other hand, the employer can lock out the workers. Strikes are not looked upon with favour in Nigeria however strong the case may be. When a major strike is in progress the public, guided by the news media expresses its disgust and the government is forced to enter into the dispute. Quite apart from losing public respect, the worker may suffer other effects which include:

        i.            Loss of earning

The workers may lose their pay for the period of work stoppage. The principle of no work no pay will be made applicable and as there is no established fund from which unions can pay the striking workers.

      ii.            Loss of Job

Some workers may lose their job permanently either as a result of their roles in the strike actions or as a result of the losses already incurred by the employer and the need to reduce the work force so as to decrease the operating cost.

    iii.            Injuries of loss of lives

Depending on the nature of the strikes, there could be injuries sustained by some workers. Some strikes could degenerate into violent demonstration and lives may be lost in the process.

    iv.            Arrest, detentions and imprisonment

The aftermath of the strike actions is the arrest of some workers, detention of some and even imprisonment in some rare instances.

      v.            Some of the workers especially union officials could gain fame and become heroes for championing the cause of their fellow workers.

EFFECTS ON THE EMPLOYER

          i            Strike actions lead to work stoppage. That is loss of expected revenue for the organization

        ii            Waste of asset – assets will remain idle during the period of the strike and in most instances, spoilage of raw materials.

      iii            Destruction of vandalization of assets – plants, equipment, vehicles, building, etc could be destroyed.

      iv            Dented Image – the inability of the organization to render services to its customers or meet their demands, the image of the organization will be dented.

EFFECTS ON THE NATION

Depending on the sector affected, a strike action is capable of having devastating effects on a nation. For instance, tankers drivers or workers in the oil sectors, hospital workers, electricity workers, transport workers, etc. these could affect country negatively when quantified in money terms.

FACTORS AFFECTING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN NIGERIA

Development of Industrial Relations follows the pattern of development of economic, political and social activities in a nation. Industrial relations therefore deal with the problems of employment, conditions of work, pay, security of employment and other related issues such as labour grievance and trade disputes and the resolution within the framework of rules and regulations mutually agreed upon by both sides of industry, that is labour and management. One of the methods of bringing about industrial harmony is collective bargaining and experience shows that there are several factors that can militate against successful collective bargaining in Nigeria.

FROM THE SIDE OF THE UNION

          i            Some union leaders are in some case people who, having failed to find a good means of livelihood, decide to take up trade union jobs. This situation has been make worsened by Federal Governments merging of trade unions and the check-out deductions obligatory to workers making lots of money available to the unions. The result of this catapulting remuneration it has been argued, is the development to exaggerated importance which tends to make paid officials of the unions become arrogant and impatient at negotiation meetings.

        ii            Some of the union leaders have not gotten proper knowledge of Trade Unionism.

      iii            Some of the union leaders are not abreast of modern developments in Trade Union practices. Lack of understanding of operations of companies.

FROM THE SIDE OF EMPLOYERS

Motivation of workers is not their priority. It should be realized that efficient performance which could lead to greater productivity requires effective motivation.

FROM THE SIDE OF GOVERNMENT

Government as an employer of labour and the maker of policies on labour matters often find itself in a dilemma. Government establishments do not generate much revenue and make profits as it is the case with private companies. The degree of collective bargaining which the government can give to its servants is therefore limited. There are three categories of workers that have to be catered for in collective bargaining, they are

          i            The civil servants who enjoy limited privilege of collective bargaining

        ii            Workers in large industrial and commercial organizations who had formed very strong trade unions and could therefore bargain effectively with their employers

      iii            Workers in small private industrial and commercial organizations who are not organized into trade unions and cannot bargain with their employers.

Faced with the three categories of workers as discussed above, government considers it necessary to interfere in national wage administration and on the conditions of service of workers. The government does this by appointing commissions from time to tie to look into the wages and salaries of workers and other conditions of service. Such commissions include:

a.       Mbanefo and Morgan Commission 1959

b.      Morgan Commission 1963

c.       Elwood Commission 1964

d.      Adebo Commission 1970

e.       Udoji Commission 1973

f.       Minimum Wage Legislation 1980

g.      Civil Service Salary Review Commission 1989

h.      Salary Review 1992

It has been observed that the outcome of such commissions has not advanced the cause of collective bargaining. The awards made by such commissions had always worsened the conditions of workers as a result of the “announcement effect”.

SIGNIFICANCE OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Having discussed the obstacles in the way collective bargaining and which make the techniques to appear unsuitable, various organizations, have discovered the advantages derivable from it.

a.       Management accepts the unions as partners in progress, tolerate the union and look for inputs from workers in the decision making process

b.      It is capable of regularizing and institutionalizing industrial relation problems or conflicts

c.       It encourages the systematic establishment of permanent salaries and wage structure

d.      It tends to fight undue exploitation of the workers by the management

e.       It has increased the power of the trade unions and workers now appreciate the need to unionize

f.       Although it has no prevented industrial conflicts, collective bargaining process facilitates meaningful resolution of such conflicts.

g.      Collective bargaining brings about industrial harmony as it brings both management and the union of workers into closer relationship.

h.      It allows for justice and fair play as the interests of both management and the workers are put into consideration in arriving at decisions on the conditions of work.

i.        Industrial harmony helps in creating a healthy atmosphere for economic, social and political stability and hence development of a union.

TRADE UNIONISM IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

This has to do with the trade unions and the problems which they encounter and which hinders the unions from achieving their objectives. These problems will be identified and probable solutions will be offered.

PROBLEMS OF TRADE UNIONISM IN NIGERIA

These includes

          i            Education:

The level of education of the officials and therefore the main actors in unions is often very low. It usually makes the unions appear inferior before the middle and senior officers in their establishment.

        ii            Funding

Until the check-off system was approved by government, the unions depended on assistance from government and grants or donations from foreign sources.

      iii            Leadership struggle

Tussles among members which often create factions and allegiance by members to certain individuals

      iv            Affiliation

The problems of ideology have always been and continues to be a major setback for trade union leaders in Nigeria. There where trade union leaders who learned to the left and who favoured dealings with the communist bloc and affiliation to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). The ideological differences for instance led to a split within All-Nigeria Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) and the formation of the National Council of Trade Unions of Nigeria (NCTUN) in April 1957.

        v            Union involvement in politics

Quite unlike in Britain where the unions, realizing the role that politics and law had played in their development and decided to involve themselves in these processes which led to the formation of the Labour party and the Election of workers’ representatives into parliament, the involvement of trade unions in politics in Nigeria has not been so impressive.

      vi            Management problems

The poor management of the affairs of the unions constituted a serious problem. The report of the Adebiyi Tribunal in 1977 highlighted the degree of misuse of union funds and property and this led to the banning of certain unionists from future participation in trade unionism. 

    vii            Multiplicity/proliferation of Unions

The Trade Union Ordinance of 1938 led to the proliferation of unions. The Ordinance allowed fifty workers to register as a union and many unions were registered. The number of registered unions jumped from 36 in 1941 to 77 in 1942, by 1950 there were 144 unions. In 1962 in grew to 435 and 896 in 1977.

  viii            Government intervention

The intervention ranged from provision of guidelines for registration, membership, banning of union officials and the proscription of unions and freezing the accounts of such unions.

SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM

       I.            Education

Government has taken steps to educate unions members and leaders in various ways one of which is the establishment of the Michael Imoudu Institute for Labour Studies, Illorin. Union leaders have the opportunity to enjoy sponsorship from international labour bodies.

    II.            Funding

The Check-off System has greatly solved the financial problems of unions. Grants and aids from foreign sources, though discouraged by government, are other sorces of funds for unions

 III.            Leadership

With increased education by the leaders and members generally and their levels of awareness, responsible is emerging for unions.

 IV.            Other problems

Other problem of affiliation and politics bother on ideology and can be solved as the level of education and awareness by union members increase.

    V.            Proliferations

Government has reduced the number of registered unions to 42 by the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act of 1978 and all the industrial unions are compulsorily to affiliate with the NLC

PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

Trade unionism which started effectively in Nigeria in the 1930s has under gone various stages of development, transformation and has attempted attaining maturity. The various stages through which the unions have passed, the experiences which trade unionists have had and the factors which have affected the unions both positively and negatively are lessons for the future.

Trade Unions are capable of bringing about industrial harmony in a nation. The industrial harmony on its part, is a pre-requisite for development.

Trade Unions should be prepared to learn from the mistakes of the past. There is more than ever before the need for unity. There is the need to avoid identified obstacles.