-
Examining The Role Of Trade Union Towards Solving Employee's Problems In Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 2 of 3
-
-
-
Organised trade unions officially started on Monday 19 August 1912 in
Nigeria when workers in the then civil service organised themselves into
trade unions as was done in Sierra Leone (Egboh, 1968). One Mr Henry
Libert – a Sierra Leonean- summoned a meeting of about thirty-three
indigenous workers, and by the fifth meeting on 15 November 1912 after
advice was received from Sierra Leone, the aim of the union was decided
and this was to promote the welfare and interests of the indigenous
workers of the Nigerian Civil Service (Okonkwo, 1993). It was known then
as the Civil Service British Workers Union but later changed to the
Nigerian Civil Service Union shortly before independent (Yesufu, 1982;
Smock, 1969).
It remained an exclusive union of Africans of 1st class
workers until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This brought
about an astronomical rise in cost of living and the union had to seek
the support of other workers outside the 1st class to agitate for 30%
increase in basic salaries as the war bonus which was granted by the
colonial administrators (Ananaba, 1970). The union later discussed other
grievances which included: discrimination in salary scale in favor of
Europeans against African workers performing same jobs, and abolition of
the ‘frequent imposition of fines as a measure of discipline’ (Yesufu,
1982,: 96).
In 1931, the Railway Workers Union and the Nigeria Union
of Teachers were formed; before this time railway workers were under the
Nigerian Civil Service Union (Egboh, 1968). The 1930 economic crisis
aided the coming out of the then Mechanic Union out of the Nigerian
Civil Service Union; although the former claimed to embrace all
employees of the railway; the clerical workers chose to remain with the
later (Yesufu, 1982). With the passing of the Nigerian Trade Union
Ordinance in 1938, the numbers of registered trade unions as well as
memberships increased; for example, in 1940 only 14 unions were
registered with 4,629 members but by 1944 this had increased to 91
registered unions with over thirty thousand members (Nigeria Department
of Labor Annual Reports, 1945).
By 1975, under the military regime of General Murtala Muhamed one thousand trade unions were registered
(Fashoyin,
1980). That same year, his government established a Commission of
Enquiry to look into the past activities of the unions. Administrators
were appointed to manage the unions as the unions were polarized and
ideologically divided therefore creating labor problems for the country
(Ibid, 1980). Therefore, this study focuses on examining the role of
trade union towards solving employee's problems in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 2 of 3
-
