A CRITIQUE OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING POLICY IN NIGERIA FROM COLONIAL ERA TILL DATE

Abstract

This study focused on a critical evaluation of collective bargaining policy in Nigeria from the historical perspective. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the structure and system of collective bargaining in Nigeria since the colonial period. The study adopted a conceptual analysis and theoretical explanation of the origin, development, weakness, and state involvement in collective bargaining policy in Nigeria through a critical review of extant literatures. The study revealed that collective bargaining as machinery for wage determination in the public sector is supposed to prevent the unilateral imposition of wages on the union by the government and vice versa as the case may be. However, it is not often used by the Nigerian government to determine wages rather government relied more on wage commissions, wage tribunals, and civil services administrative rules to determine wages in the public sector. Therefore, collective bargaining appears to be ineffective as a potent tool for wage determination in Nigeria’s public sector. The study also discovered that collective bargaining machinery in Nigeria is weak because of government’s direct involvement in collectivebargaining process to review, amend, even absolutely reject the collective agreement reached between unions and the government representative at the bargaining table. The study, therefore, concluded that collective bargaining is not an effective institution within the context of employment relations in Nigeria.