A WORKER’S PERSPECTIVE ON SECTION 43 OF THE TRADE DISPUTES ACT: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

More than ever before, the need to minimize the frequency of industrial actions in Nigeria because of its adverseeffects on the nation’s economy and manpower has become overly imperative. The government has adopted the‘no work no pay’ provision in Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act1 as a means to discourage labour unions’incessant resort to industrial actions. This has led to quite a number of debates on the implications of thisprovision and the exercise of workers right to embark on industrial actions. Indeed, international law andnational legislations have provided workers with the right to freely associate and form trade unions as well asrecognised workers right to strike. However, some pieces of legislation such as the Trade Disputes Act haveprovisions which severely limit this right. The aim of this work is to demonstrate that the provisions of section43 by implication are one of such restricting provisions. This paper indicates that loss of pay, which in this caseis represented by the ‘no work, no pay’ rule as provided in section 43, gags the exercise of the right to strikeand recommends inter alia the amendment of section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act and the conduct of impactassessment checks by organised labour before embarking on industrial actions, as ways forward.