Employees Agitations Is Not The Same As Unionisation In The Workplace In Nigeria -By Adebayo Adekola

Employees in Nigeria are free to form and join staff unions in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Labour Act, Trade Unions Act, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1948 (No. 98). They have rights and obligations to the union. Employees usually engage in trade union activities like agitation, unionization, collective bargaining, cooperative, attending union meetings, participating in conventions, being a union delegate, participating in Labour Day activities, industrial actions, and union elections in their workplace.

Agitation and unionization are some of the most common and popular trade union activities in Nigeria. These two activities are not the same, and they do not mean the same. However, some employers and employees usually mistake the agitation of employees in the workplace for unionization.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘‘agitation’’ is when people protest or argue. The verb “unionize” in The New Oxford American Dictionary means “become or cause to become members of a labour union.” The two definitions put side by side do not mean the same. Employees who are not union members do not enjoy the rights and privileges of a union member. However, an employee does not need to be a union member to agitate. Union members can equally agitate. Both union members and non-union members can agitate together in sympathy for one another.

These differences were also emphasized by the Hon. Justice B. B. Kanyip, PhD, in the case of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) vs. Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations and Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE) Suit No. NICN/ABJ/45/2021.

In the case, the employer sued the defendants because the defendants were engaging in the unionization of staff by protesting and writing a letter of complaint against the claimant, citing widespread disenchantment and frustration amongst staff, subjection to rigorous and unmotivated work schedules”, restrictions of vacancies on staff promotions”, “unjustified barring of certain category of staff from writing promotion examination”, “stoppage of all staff Loans”, “punishment of staff by stopping their salaries even before queries were issued”, and “lingering injustices against staff.”

The Honourable Justice explained the differences between agitation and unionization by stating that ‘’the claimant’s case, to my mind, is structured on very faulty premises, chief of which is its understanding of what unionism is. The claimant equates agitation with unionism. The verb “unionize” in The New Oxford American Dictionary means “become or cause to become members of a labour union.”

Activities that would constitute unionization, as supported by the court in the case above, include asking a staff member in the service of the claimant to be a member of a union, embarking on any membership drive, asking for the deduction of check-off dues for staff, etc.

The court, in considering this point, asked these questions: ‘’Did the claimant show to this court that the defendant asked any senior staff in the service of the claimant to be its member?’’ ‘’Did the defendant embark on any membership drive in respect of senior staff in the service of the claimant?’’ ‘’Did the defendant ask of the claimant the deduction of check-off dues in respect of its senior staff?’’ The court’s answer to all these questions was no.

Other staff activities that may constitute unionization include obtaining personal data and filling out a union membership form, engaging in collective bargaining, cooperative, attending union meetings, participating in conventions, being a union delegate, participating in Labour Day activities, participating in industrial actions, and participating in union elections in the workplace.

Agitating for the interests of staff is not what defines unionism or unionisation. Trade unions may agitate. The court explained that it is commonplace in the world of work for sympathy or secondary strikes to occur in support of causes by unions other than the secondary or sympathetic strikers. Here, it is not uncommon for a junior staff union to sympathize with or support the strike of a senior staff union. Such agitation does not make the junior staff union a senior staff union.

It is hoped that readers now have a better understanding of agitation and unionization. They can avoid mistaking and misrepresenting the two, take the right steps and actions, and save time, money, and energy that would have been extended in pursuing claims premised on the wrong understanding of the two, or get engaged in what the court considered utterly baseless, wild goose chase, and waste of precious time.

Adebayo Adekola
Team Lead/Founder, Taitum Legal Practitioners
taitumlegal@nigerianbar.ng
+2348165299774