CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW 
2.1     HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 
By the 20th century in Nigeria, the system of production was purely traditional and payment for labour service were in kind, as the issue for monetary payment was not popular in the economy because there were no employment of labour, no payment of wage hence no organized labour to fight for interest of workers except that food and shelter were provided for the dependents by the head of the family units for the satisfaction of the basic needs.

During the 20th century with the ushering in of the commercial activities pursued by the colonial maters who needed the service of labourers for the raw materials they could find. Again, the colonial civil service starts employing indigenous workers, thereby increasing the culture of wages payment in Nigeria. Workers were recruited into organization like the post and telecommunication (P&T) Electrical cooperation of Nigeria (ECN) and other government agencies then come the laying of the railway line from Lagos to the northern Nigeria, with the attendant employment of Nigeria leading to the payment of wages. The increase in commercial activities and workers agitation led to the establishment of Nigeria civil service union (NCSU) in 1912 to fight for the better condition of service of civil servants of Nigeria.

From this period to 1938 when the trade union ordinance was enacted recognizing the formation of trade unions in Nigeria. Within this periods employee were relating with employers on individuals basis and not as a collective units. The existence of trade unions therefore allows the workers usually through their representatives to participate in determining the policies that affect their work environment, work now become formalized in the form of employment contract between the employees and the employers.

The parties were seen as equal. The employer who has invested his capital aims at maximizing profits. The workers on the other hand contribution their service, which if not remunerated falls into adject poverty. While the employer tries to maximize profit by if possible, exploit the workers, the workers on the other hand try to free himself from the exploitative hands of the employers. It is this divergent interest among the two opposing groups in an organization that leads to the formation of labour unions.

While employers are represented by management, workers are represented by their unions through their labour leaders. Unions are therefore, formed so that both parties can have working harmony. The relationship that exists between management and labour is what is called industrial relations.

The term, “Industrial Relations” has developed both a broad and a narrow meaning. Originally, industrial relations were broadly defined to include the totality of relationships and interactions between employers an employees. From the perspective, industrial relation covers all the aspects of the employment relationship, including human resource or personnel management employee relations and union management or (labour) relations. Since the mid twentieth century, however more restricted interpretation that largely equates it with unionized employment relationships. In this view, industrial relations pertains to the study and practice of collective bargaining, trade unionism and labour management relation. 
Akpala (1984)defines industrial relations as:  
The regulation of employment relations by the employers management or their organization, the worker’s organization and the third party, private and/or government acting as an umpire of a controller, the purpose of which is joint decision making for establishing job rules and job values and for cooperation of the organizational objectives of the enterprise, the trade union and of course the state.

Yesufu (1982) in defining industrial relations according to the context of modern market and industrializing economics, see it as “the whole web of human interaction at which is predicated upon and arise out of the employment contracts”. This shows that industrial relations deal with negotiations between unions and employers and with government intervention in strikes and negotiations.

Ugwu (2006) defines it in the real academic term as: 
The study of the rules governing employment together with the ways in which the rules are made and charged, interpreted and administered, in other words job regulation. It is also include the study of  trade unions, management, employers association and the public bodies concern with  the regulation of employment. 
Each of these organizations has its own power, authority and vested interest. Any attempt to have conflicting options or interests amount to industrial conflict and when organization are in conflict situation government may apply pressure on each to pedal soft or make concessions.

2.2     THE ACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THEIR AREAS OF INTEREST 
The employers and their association are interested in optimizing their profit from fund invested, and increase in producing. This, they can be achieve through the efforts of the employees ad their unions, and in return compensate them  with wages, salaries and other fringe benefits for their contribution, loyalty and supportive roles. 

For instance, the employers of labour of Federal Ministry of finance, Abuja, utilizes the services of their workers in order to improve the organization productivity. Employers in Nigeria have an umbrella association known as Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).

The Employees and Their Union 
The employees and the union offer their service and expects the following in return, equitable wage/salary, protection of interest of the members, job security, safety and health measure and better conditions of employment. 
On the other hand, Nigerian workers are represented by a body known as Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
However, ever large organization has its own labour union, and can belong to Nigeria labour congress (NLC).

2.3     PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 
          Industrial disputes can be caused by the following factors:

Federal Ministry of finance also encounter industrial relation problem due to unresolved conflict or dispute between the management and the unions like association of senior staff.

2.4     MANIFESTATION OF DISPUTES 
The major ways in which industrial discontent can be manifested are as follows: -

Strike and lockouts, however exert economic pressures not workers and employers in that while lose wages, employers also lose business.

2.5     PROCEDURE FOR SETTING INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE 
Industrial disputes can be settled using two methods namely the internal or voluntary machinery and the external or statutory machinery. The dispute act of 1976 stipulates that any industrial dispute should first be settled under an internal or voluntary machinery (also known as grievance procedure). It is only when this fails that the parties can resort to the external or statutory procedure. Under the internal machinery, the aggrieved party (usually the worker), is expected to follow a step by step procedure already a put in place by the organization to resolve conflicts, without resorting to industrial action, however, if the internal machinery fails, the law provides  for third party intervention in the following ways.

The NIC has exclusive jurisdiction to:

Once the court makes its award, it is final and binding on the parties and no appeal can be made to any other body.