CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Strike action also called labour strike or industrial action is a work stoppage caused by
the mass refusal of employee(s) to work. A strike usually takes place in respond to
employee grievances. Strike became important during the Industrial Revolution, when
mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries, they were
quietly made illegal, as factory owners had far more political power than workers. Most
western countries partially legalize striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.
Strikes are sometimes used to put pressure on government to change polices.
Occasionally, strike destabilizes the rule of a particular political party or ruler. In such
cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a
campaign of civil resistance. A notable example is the stoppage of work by the
indigenous railways workers in (1932) led by Pa Michael Imodu during the colonial era
and the first general strike of (1945) in Nigeria.
Since 1970 to present time, workers demand for improved condition of work and wages
have increased the number of strike actions as management most times would not
accurately satisfy the needs and requests of employees even in the face of economic
recession.
In this study, however, we are going to examine the causes of strike, i.e. consequences
and impact in the achievement of trade union objectives.
Strikes are the most significant aspect of industrial conflict. Strike is defined as the
temporary stoppage of work in the pursuance of grievance or demand. In practice
however, it has been difficult to separate strike from other forms of expression of
industrial dispute as employer lock out workers and workers themselves embark on
strike action.
It is more useful to view both phenomena as part and parcel of the conflict situation, not
as opposite. Rarely does a strike occur over a single issue for an obvious cause may be
linked with several other issues that not immediately apparent to the observation that
have caused dissatisfaction because solutions to them have been long in coming. The
actual occurrence of strike depends on several factors including prevailing
circumstances. This also goes to show that few strikes occur spontaneously especially
as there is no way of guaranteeing that strike actions instead of the other forms of
industrial action would be decided upon by workers involved.
Each time strike occurs substantial man-hour is lost, a good example is the first
general strike of (1945), the (1993) ASU strike where universities in the country was
closed for couple of months thereby causing set back in the tertiary institution.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, the two major
umbrella bodies of workers union in Nigeria mobilized workers for an indefinite strike
action which commenced on Monday, 9th January, 2012 to drive home the protest
against the fuel subsidy removal of January 1st 2012. The government of Nigeria
removed fuel subsidy by increasing the price of petrol per litre from N65 to N141 on
January 1st 2012.
This nationwide strike affected the country‟s economy negatively where the volume
of trading on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange,( NSE) fell by 82 percent, local
flights were grounded, and lifting of crude oil was hampered. The strike had a lot of
effect on the major sector of the economy as activities of the (NSE) that are trading
slumped by 80%, while banks complied with the strike order and closed shop, the NSE
opened for business as usual. But at close of trading, only 46.06 million shares were
traded in 20 deals.
This is a significant reduction when compared with an average 262 million shares worth
about N1.05 billion traded in 2,509 deals the previous week. The Nigeria Labour
Congress,(NLC) has led a number of general strikes in the past to mention a few. In
2004, the Nigeria Labour Congress gave the Federal government an ultimatum to
reverse the decision to introduce the controversial fuel tax or force a nation wide protest
strike. The strike threat was made despite the fact that the Federal High Court judgment
in an earlier dispute had declared the organization lacking legal power to call a general
strike over government policies.
It is in this context that the research wishes to access the impact of strike action on
the achievement of trade union objectives in both private and public sectors in Nigeria
and how management policies/decisions are influenced by workers through the
representatives (trade union) to the effect of harmonizing management polices with
trade union objectives enhancing efficiency as well as maintain good industrial relation
peace and harmony in the work place using…
1.2STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The unstable industrial relation climate in Nigeria just within the decades has
resulted in all time record of lost working hours, unprecedented work stoppage as a
result of strike action.
By October 1981,both federal and state government were broke, by December,
seven out of the nineteen state governments could hardly pay the salaries of their
employees; by June 1982,Bendel,Rivers,Cross Rivers, Benue and Imo States were
owing teachers two to four months arrears. It was only when junior workers
threatened strike action in Cross River State and teachers actually abandoned
classes in Bendel State after not receiving January salaries as at April 1982 that
both government cleared part of the outstanding amount .
In the first six months of the year 1982, Nigeria lost a total of 4,598 man- hours
because of strike action by workers. The recent strike action embarked by Nigeria
Labour Congress in January, 2012 has cost the country millions of naira as all the
sectors of the economy which engage in productivity activities in order to boost the
gross domestic product of the economy were closed down for couples of days.
1.3PURPOSE OF STUDY
The purpose of this study is to probe into the effectiveness of strike action as a
means of achieving union objectives from the management. This study is based on a
case study of EMENITE LIMITED ENUGU
Precisely, the study is focused on following issues, tools for achieving union
demands from management using strike as the major tools in achieving union
objectives.
The recommendation which will be based mainly on the findings of the research
will be implemented to strengthen the effectiveness of strike action as means of
achieving union objectives. If on the other hand, the study suggest a better way of
achieving union aims than strike, then of course the mentored will be recommended.
1.4SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The research work focuses particularly on the impact of strike on the achievement of
trade union in an organization. The research is conducted to cover and improve the
management of organization focusing on the company EMINITE LIMITED, ENUGU.
For this reason therefore, the researcher has consulted several reviews, on issues of
strike and trade union to include text books industrial relation, management, social
sciences, dissertations from academicians on related issues, Newspaper edits
journal etc. the work would be very large if all the argument of the different authors
are presented, but they have been carefully selected so that only issues particularly
concentrating on the impact of strikes on the achievement of trade objectives are
considered.
1.5LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
A work of this nature is not easy to accomplish for its wide scope and for the
expense it would involve such as financial problems, time constraint, material cost,
apathy on the part of respondent and bureaucratic procedure involved in releasing
data in the organization of my case study. The research would have been more
expensive and capital intensive if it were to cover all the public sectors corporation in
the country, thus the research area is limited to……
1.6RESEACH QUESTIONS
1. Does the existence of trade union lead to increase strike action?
2. Does collective bargaining lead to human resource practices which help in the
achievement of union objective?
3. Do trade unions influence the making and implementation of management
polices?
4. Has the trade union activities affected the organization objective negatively?
5. Is the union management effective?
6. Does union undertake peaceful dialogue as a means of setting trade dispute
between management and the employee?
7. How good is the union management relation of the organization?
8. Does the management respond to the union positively?
1.7RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The researcher formulates the following hypothesis based on the objectives and
problems identified for the purpose of this research work, stating them in both Null
and alternate forms.
1. Ho: Organizational objectives are low where there is a strong and viable trade
union.
H1: Organizational objectives are high where there is a strong and viable trade union.
2. Ho: Trade union and management do not co-operate to raise organizational
objectives
H1: Trade union and management co-operate to raise organizational objectives
3. Ho: There is no significant relationship between the activities of trade union and
organizational objectives.
H1: There is a significant relationship between the activities of trade union and
organizational objectives.
4. Ho: Unstable union- management relationship has no significant effect on the
organizational objective
H1: Unstable union- management relationship has significant effect on the
organizational objective
5. Ho: Trade union activities do not influence the making and implementation of
management policies in the organization.
6. H1: Trade union activities influence the making and implementation of
management policies in the organization.
1.8SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research work will be relevant to management and employee
It will be beneficial to other public sectors in Nigeria; it will also be of
importance to government, academicians, potential and future researchers on the
issue of the impact of strike action on the achievement of trade union objectives in
an organization. This empirical study is also important for the reward of Bachelor of
Science (B.SC) in industrial relation and personnel management.
The study will also identify how management and union can co-operate to enhance
the achievement of trade union objectives in an organization. It will provide a basis
for trade union re-orientation objectives are achieved for better and harmonious
industrial relationship. It will also provide a frame work for management and union to
relate for increase productivity and good condition of service.
1.9DEFINITION OF TERMS
STRIKE: Strike is defined as a temporary stoppage of work in the pursuance of a
grievance or demand.
TRADE UNION: Is a combination of workers who are wages or salary earners form
for the purpose of regulating work terms and condition for maintenance and
improving the employment condition of their members.
WORKING CONDITION: A comfortable environment (condition of floor and
workroom, dressing rooms and cafeteria, temperature and humidity, cleanliness,
comfort and safety (of floors, tools and so fort) and efficiency (steady product flow,
adequate wage and salary, performance approval, incentive, motivation and welfare
services.
GRIEVANCE: situation of dissatisfaction on the part of the worker of the
organization.
EMPLOYEE: Refers to worker(s), person(s) responsible for carrying out day to day
activities of the organization toward achieving the target goals.
EMPLOYER: Refers to the management board, one who engages human and
material resources for the production of goods and services.
MANAGEMENT: Refers in this study to be the body employer and its
representatives, foremen and supervisors inclusive.
DISPUTE: Is any argument or disagreement between employer and workers, or
between workers and workers which is concerned with the employment and non
employment conditions of work of any person.
WORK: This implies any kind of purposive action i.e. whether paid or unpaid, full
time or part time, formal or informal with reference to an organization; it used to
imply the operation involved in a particular job or work.
ORGANIZATION: A group of people brought together for the purpose of achieving
certain objectives, while these members may change the role of organization which
is its basic unit is maintained.
LABOUR RELATION/INDUSTRIAL RELATION
It refers to the totality of interaction between an organization‟s management and the
organized labour/trade union. Its purpose is to serve the interest of both the state
and the working classes. It is often called collective bargaining. It is not only for
industrial or manufacturing context, but extends also to issues and procedure
concerning employment in any working environment.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: is a process of discussion and negotiation between
two parties one or both of whom is a group of persons acting in consent.
LOCKOUTS: refers to the action of an employer in temporarily closing down or
shutting down the undertaking or refusing to provide its employees with work with
intention of forcing them to either to accept the demand made by them or to
withdraw the demand made by them on him.
LABOUR FORCE: they refer to the collection of people who are available to perform
work in an economy or organization.
POLICY: A set rules or principle to guide the activities of the members of an
organization towards the achievement of a given objective or purpose within a
specific time.
HARMONY: Used in this study to mean peace among the workers and
management.
SYSTEM: This means chain or line of operational activities.
COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT: This is a contract of employment negotiated between
management and a union.
MACHINERY: As a function unit, it means a system by which something is kept in
action through which a desired result is obtained.
1.10 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
Theoretical framework is defined as a theoretical mirror or pillar upon which research
work are seen. The importance of it can not be over emphasized. According to
Obassi (1999:9), it is a device or scheme for adopting or applying the assumption, a
theoretical framework is a way of describing, analyzing, interpreting and predicting
phenomenon, it has the potentiality to provide the significance rational of a study.
Therefore, it provides the theoretical framework of this study is based on
interactionistic perspective organization. A more recent view of conflict is a positive
force and necessary for effective performance. This approach encourages a
minimum level of conflict within the group in order to encourage self criticism,
change and innovation and to help prevent apathy or to quest a tolerance for
harmony and the status quo.
the overall background of the research.
Conflict perse is not necessarily good or bad but an inevitable feature of
organizational life and should be judged in terms of its effect on performance.
Even if organization has taken great care to try and avoid conflict, it will still
occur. Conflict must continue to emerge despite attempts to suppress it.
For long, the strike as been recognized as a legitimate weapon of workmen for
ventilating their grievance or seeking enforcement of right. But it is not a
fundamental right because otherwise, it could not have been controlled by statutes
like the Industrial dispute Act. The Indian constitution does not consider the right to
strike as a fundamental right.
The general right to resort to strike has been recognized by defining the
circumstances under which a strike is to be regarded as illegal. The right to strike,
however, is not unjustified; it is a relative right which can be exercised with due
regard to the right workers. A strike therefore, should be used as a weapon only as
the last resort when all avenues have proved futile and so long as it is used in a
restrained peaceful manner for good and justifiable reasons.
Mahatma Gandhi recognized the workers right to strike but he warned that such
a strike should be conducted when all other methods have failed. The national
commission on labour is of the opinion that “The right to strike and the right to
lockout with reasonable restraint have been recognized in all democratic societies,
though the degree of freedom grated for the exercise has varied in different
countries. According to the social, economic and political system prevailing there”
BACKGROUND/ HISTORY OF THE STUDY
Emenite Ltd is an abestor roofing ceiling sheet producing company incorporated in
(1961) with registration number Rc 2712. It started operations in (1963). The company
is a member of the Belgium Etex group.
OWNERSHIP
The company is a joint venture between the eteroutremer society Anonyme of
Belgium (now Etex group S.A) and the Anambra and Imo state (now Anambra, Enugu,
Imo, Abia, Ebonyi state) government with a shareholding capacity of 51% and 45%
respectively as at March, 24 (1988).
The company was formerly named Turner Abestor cement company Nigeria
limited, with shareholder of 80% to Turner and Newall Ltd and government of eastern
Nigeria 20% as at 1961. In 1973 due to the decree on indigenization, the shareholding
changed to Turner and Newall Ltd with 60% to the company and 40% to Eastern
government as the company changes its name to Turner building products (Emene)
limited.
In 1988 after Turner and Newall diverted interest in the company, it transferred
it 51% shareholding to Eteroutremer society Anonyme of Belgium (Now Etex group
S.A) The remaining share of 45% went to the Easter government of Nigeria and had a
change of name which is known as Emenite up to date.
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