Social Movement Unionism

Myth or Veracity: The Case

of Nigeria Labour
Movement
By
Michael Oyelere
Regents University London
 Content

Historical Developments
The Nigeria Labour Movement
Governments and Labour Movement
Political Situations
Economic Conditions
Labour Movement and Civil and Human
Right Coalition
Labour Movement as Social Movement
Unionism
Nigeria Labour Movement

The origin of wage employment

Communal labour system
Trade by barter

The development of paid employment

British take-over of administration of the
Protectorate of Northern and Southern Nigeria
from the Royal Niger Company in 1900
Nigeria Labour Movement

The birth of trade association

The concept of combination

Craftsmen (goldsmith, artisan,

apprenticeship )

Village and language group

associations
Nigeria Labour Movement

Early Trade Associations

Mechanics Mutual Aid Provident and
Improvement Association 1893
Association of Clerks in the Civil Service of Lagos
1905
Southern Nigeria Civil Service Association 1907
Association of European Civil Servants 1912
Nigerian Railway Native Staff Association 1919
Railway Mechanics 1921
Nigeria Labour Movement

Government response to economic

depression (1930s)

Retrenchment of staff
Scaling down of wages of up to 10 per cent
Lay-off of employees for varying periods
without pay
Introduction of regulatory laws
Nigeria Labour Movement

Workers response to government

depression measures

The Struggle for improved conditions

(strikes)
Nigerian Mechanics Union Jan 9, 1932
Public Works Department (Carpenters) Jan 13,
1932
Nigeria Labour Movement

Trade union
First Modern trade Union in Nigeria was
the Nigeria Civil Service Union NCSU,
formed in 1912
Aims of NCSU
Redress inequality between European and African
workers
Improve working condition of African workers
Support Nationalist struggle for independence
(political agenda)
Nigeria Labour Movement

Organisations of trade unions

By late 1950s there was over 500 trade unions and over 20
central labour organisations

Some of the prominent labour centres includes:

All Nigeria Trade Union Federation (ANTUF)

National Council of Trade Union of Nigeria (NCTUN)
Trades Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN)
The Nigerian Trade Union Congress (NTUC)
United Labour Congress (ULC)
Nigeria Workers Council (NWC)
Labour Unity Front (LUF)
Nigeria Labour Movement

The Recognition of Labour Centres

Government decided to recognise and
register four labour centres in 1962.
These includes:
United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULCN)
Nigerian Trade Union Congress (NTUC)
Nigerian Workers Council (NWC)
Labour Unity Front (LUF)
Nigeria Labour Movement

The Birth and Developments in the

Nigeria Labour Congress- NLC
By 1974 three of the four labour centres were
in serious crisis (internal and external)
Birth of Nigeria Labour Congress- 1974

The Military Government involvement-1975

Recognition of Nigeria Labour Congress as the
single labour centre 1978
Nigeria Labour Movement

The Nigeria Labour Congress

NLC summarised
NLC came in to existence in 1974
It stemmed from NCSU
A product of disunity that exist among labour centres
Assume the role of Labour Federation due to government
legislation (Trade Union Act 1978)
Congress membership is about 5 million and spans the public
and private sectors of the economy
It has 42 affiliate unions and 37 state councils
Core activities includes: collective bargaining and organising
trade and industrial unions for collective action
Politics and Economic Conditions

The Military and Labour Movement

First military involvement in politics,
Jan.1966
Lack of democratic rule prolonged military
rule
Period of political impasse
Tribal and religious politics
 Politics and Economic
Conditions

Economic conditions
IMF/WB and WTO interventions
Privatisation, Deregulation, Commercialisation
Deteriorating living standard
Living below poverty level
Rising unemployment
Closure of firm (especially textile companies)
Social Movement Unionism

Labour Movement and Civil and Human Right

Coalition

Labour movement form alliance with civil and human

rights groups, including the followings

National Democratic Coalition NADECO

Civil Liberty Organisation CLO
Campaign for Democracy CD
Committee for the Defence of Human Right CDHR
Social Movement Unionism

Labour Movement and Civil and Human Right Coalition

Forced the military to step aside in 1993
Forced the military to announce transition to civil rule in
1995
Forced changes to Trade Union (international Affiliation)
Decree 1996 (No. 29)
Forced the national assembly to limit the changes to Trade
Union Amendment Act 2005
Forced government to reverse it decision to increase oil
pump price in the following years:
2000; 2002; 2003; 2005; 2006; 2007; 2011; 2012
Social Movement Unionism

Some few definitions to help comprehend the term

Social Movement Unionism combines conventional

institutionalised collective bargaining with modes of
collective action typically associated with social
movements Hirschsohn, 1998; Queux and Sainsaulieu, 2010
It engages in the struggle for national liberation and
participative democracy through multi-class alliances
with other social and civil society movements and in
some case political organisations - Webster, 1988;
Fairbrother, 2008
Social Movement Unionism

Social Movement Unionism is an

alternative form of union organisation that
explains the development of labour
movement within a hostile/inhospitable
environment Lopez, 2004; Von Holdt, 2002
Social Movement Unionism

1. locally focused and based, often referred to as rank

and file mobilization, or variants
2. experimenting with collective actions, that go
beyond the strike, or workplace limited activities
3. building alliances, coalition building, and extending
into the community and beyond
4. embracing emancipatory politics, framing demands
politically, and formulating transformative visions.
Fairbrother (2008)
 Concluding Remarks

Initial findings reveals that:

The organisational development of NLM as
the leading challenger of undemocratic rule
and champion of good economic policies and
human rights epitomise Social Movement
Unionism
But, these developments poses a challenge
to the main stream industrial relations and
labour movement theories.
 Concluding Remarks

The study's main suppositions is that:

Conventional categories of economic and political unionism

found in advanced economies, do not adequately explain
the development of labour movement and the
institutionalisation of collective bargaining under autocratic
military and democratic government driven by neo-liberal
agenda.
Conventional theories of labour movement did not take into
account the role of labour movement during periods of
political impasse caused by prolonged military rule and
subsequent liberalisation of political activity and transition to
democracy.
Thank you