THE rash of industrial actions that have disfigured the Nigerian landscape in recent times is yet another indication of the way in which the exception has become the norm. At present, both the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are on strike. A three-day warning strike of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) was only recently called off.
The reasons for these strikes are well-known. The most prominent one is the failure of the Federal Government to abide by agreements reached in previous negotiations with the unions. Other reasons include the lack of a conducive working environment due to dilapidated infrastructure, police harassment and victimisation by management.
While there can be no doubt that the right to withhold labour is an accepted strategy of legally-recognised unions, the profusion and frequency of wide-ranging industrial actions is a worrying development. The disruption they cause is profound, and can lead to extensive inconvenience, suffering and even loss of life.
The brief NUPENG strike, for example, led to lengthy queues in petrol stations all across the country, a sharp rise in transport costs, and a virtual shutting-down of cities like Abuja and Kaduna. In a similar fashion, the ten-week old ASUP strike has rendered thousands of students idle and thus more vulnerable to participation in anti-social activity. The recently-declared ASUU strike will only worsen this lamentable trend.
While these strikes go on, Nigeria continues to miss opportunities, waste time and effort, and stagnate as vital sectors of national life are put on hold. The suspension of tertiary education as a result of the ASUP and ASUU strikes will result in the suspension of all teaching and a great deal of research and community service. Conferences, workshops and seminars that were previously planned will no longer take place. Staff and students will become more disillusioned and cynical, and therefore become more likely to cut corners.
Given the enormous cost of industrial actions to the socio-economic wellbeing of the country, it is surprising that the Jonathan administration does not do more to ensure that they are reduced to the barest minimum. Almost all strikes follow the same depressing pattern: a union issues a strike warning, demanding that government meet with it to negotiate on crucial issues; government ignores both the invitation and the deadline, only to call for negotiations when the strike is in full swing.
The pattern is so predictable that a few confidence-building measures would be sufficient to reverse the trend. Since negotiations with the unions are inevitable, it makes no sense for government to wait until its hand is forced. Indeed, such tactics smack of arrogance and insensitivity which only make the unions even more determined to press their case with all the weapons at their disposal.
It is time for both the Federal Government and the unions to evolve a new paradigm to counteract the vicious cycle of strikes besetting the nation. One way is to draw up a code of conduct outlining the steps and procedures which must be followed by all parties. Once an industrial dispute is declared, there could be a specified number of days or weeks within which negotiations must be held. Another strategy might be the institution of a “cooling-off” period, in which all parties to the dispute must agree to maintain the status quo while the issues are being looked into. There could also be a mechanism for sanctioning government officials whose actions or statements exacerbate labour disputes. If ministers and civil servants realise that they have a stake in ensuring industrial peace, strikes might become a less prominent feature of Nigerian life.
