FCSC Chair Proffers Solutions to Incessant Labour Disputes

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, yesterday outlined measures to considerably reduce labour disputes in the country.

Olaopa who spoke at the second Annual National Labour Adjudication Forum of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association  (NECA) in  Abuja, noted that although  workplace disputes are inescapable, they hardly play out as positive occurrences.

He noted that they are neither ever well-managed, well-timed, and controlled to ensure a win-win resolution in  a measure that presents veritable potential for enhanced national productivity.

 Olaopa said that the  ability and commitment of the social partners to negotiation and social dialogue in a manner that does not degenerate into militancy-induced irresolvable differences is the key to industrial peace and harmony.

He lamented  that adversarial industrial relations have been somewhat elevated to a national culture in dispute resolution and this has created disturbing road blocks to consensus building.

Among the  factors that are responsible for a culture of labour  disputes, according  to him, are a lack  of respect for terms of collectively bargained agreements because conclusions thereto were reached under duress in a manner that usually creates industrial peace of the graveyard.

He also listed a lack of political sophistication to unravel the legal, structural and systemic issues that have hindered an  unfettered implementation and enforcement of relevant labour laws in Nigeria.

Olaopa decried some of the provisions of the labour laws which are perceived to be crafted to favour some parties against the others while some others are  obsolete outright and ineffective to address modern workplace disputes.

“There is also the consequence of the huge knowledge and information gaps on the part of some key actors in the labour movement. This dimension plays out, many times, as intellectual emptiness, one that makes meaningful contribution to discourses that are game-changing in the dynamics of national change management practically impossible,” he added.

According to Olaopa ,  many of the agencies at the heart of regulatory control of the dynamics, like the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and others that exercise jurisdiction over work-related  suffer from lack of capacity.

“They suffer significant capacity deficits, professional creativity, resources,  including funding to carry out their statutory duties in measures that sometimes smack of abdication of responsibility,” he said.

He noted that the most worrisome dimension is the reigning industrial relations culture of impunity in the labour sector with significant elements of indiscipline and dishonesty in industrial dispute practices with  poor corporate governance issues.

He listed these as the non-remittance of check-up dues, sit-tight syndrome, lack of accountability, absence of democratic tenets, and dictatorial tendencies in labour relations.

Thus, going  forward, Olaopa  noted that ‘tripartism’ is   in such a precarious state that the government needs to urgently convene a no-holds-barred platform for national conversation where all the parties in industrial relations system could reach an agreement on how they could work together to make the Nigerian social model work.

“ In this regard, the National Assembly should enact as a matter of urgency all pending labour bills that can strengthen the institution of social dialogue and alternative disputes resolution (ADR) mechanism in Nigeria.

“The National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) should be strengthened to accommodate larger stakeholders. Indeed, there is an urgent need to transform the NLAC into the National Labour Council.

“This will involve diverse stakeholders in the management of labour issues as done by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NDELAC) in South Africa which is deeply involved in all labour and socio-economic policy formulation and implementation in that country.

“The present mandate of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) should be expanded to include capacity building of stakeholders and facilitation of research in dispute management and resolution,” he said.