Incessant strikes, lockouts contributory factors to recession – OPS

Organised Private Sector (OPS) says the nation’s economic woes could grow worse if nothing is done to check incessant industrial strikes and lock-outs in workplaces, as these will further put strains on the struggling economy and work against investments, especially foreign.

OPS’ concern, coincidentally, is coming at a time a number of industrial associations including the Resident Doctors, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) as well as Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have issued threats to embark on industrial actions in their respective sectors.

Larry Ettah, president, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), who raised the concern in a recent session with select journalists in Lagos, warned that Nigeria risked losing more jobs and sinking deeper into poverty unless the nation’s industrial relations system that allowed labour unions take the law into their hands was reformed and redefined.

“Nigeria is one of the least productive economies in the world, on account of colossal man-hour lost to incessant strikes and picketing. The fact is that an economy that is bedevilled and plagued by frequent strikes cannot be productive or be investors’ first port of destination,” Ettah said.

“Our current state of industrial relations can be captured in one phrase: decadence, chaos, lawlessness and disharmony,” he said. The rule of law cherished age-old values of good industrial relations practice, and respect for structures, systems, processes and jurisdiction have all given way to the law of the jungle, and survival of the fittest seems to be the order of the day. There seems to be no limit to the “powers” of the unions and no constraint on the number of the issues on which the unions could establish prima facie right of negotiation.

“There is, therefore, an urgent need for the reform of the industrial relations system. The objective of such a reform should be to promote an enabling environment suitable for wealth and job creation. The reform must aim at promoting the rule of law, respect for the sanctity of procedural and substantive agreements and responsible use of strikes and lockouts as tools of collective bargaining,” the NECA boss said.

According to Ettah, the situation is worsened by the failure of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to act decisively based on the rule of law, working with security agencies, to protect the rights of the employers and other stakeholders and compel the industrial unions to obey the laws of the land on strikes, picketing and trade dispute management.

“NECA, therefore, encourages the Ministry of Labour and Employment to articulate and share with the social partners government’s reform agenda for the industrial relations system. The ministry may jump-start this process by setting up a tripartite-plus committee, which should include respected scholars of industrial relations and relevant stakeholders. On our part as employers, we are ready to cooperate and collaborate with the government in pursuing the objectives,” he said.