IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL UNIONS STRIKE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

The Nigerian University system, which is designed and packaged to be a fulcrum for national development has witnessed so much industrial unrest. Strikes of various and reasons have become a normal phenomenon in growing inconsiderate policy making relationship between the government and academia. Though it is stipulated in the constitution that strikes can be used as avenues to express public opinion which can bring positive changes, and the frequency of industrial crisis/disputes has affects the standard and products of public Universities in Nigeria despite highly improved inputs and this situation is mirrored effectively in the Nigerian economy. This paper reviews the impact of industrial unions strike on the performance of public universities in Nigeria. The study revealed that the problem of industrial relations in the Nigerian University system were found to be lack of education of some labour leaders, the rigid structure of relationships, lack of flow of communication, management and government meddling with union affairs, frequent trade disputes, under funding and inadequate teaching facilities. Political factors were also discovered as some of the causes of industrial disputes within the university system. These affect student academic performance and generally loss of productivity in economic sector of Nigeria. The study recommended that both union leaders and management representatives should from time to time embark on training to understand the workings of industrial relations.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Challenge of External Work Arrangements for Industrial Manufacturing Unions in Germany and Italy

Work externalisation has challenged the ability of industrial unions to represent workers along the value chain and sustain solidaristic policies, leading to the growing fragmentation of wages and working conditions. This article aims to complement institutionalist analyses of unions’ strategies towards peripheral workers by pointing at the role of the labour process. The authors argue that variations in the bargaining strategies and their outcomes for different types of peripheral workers can be explained by observing the extent to which the use of different external work arrangements for specific tasks challenges the logic of industrial unionism. The findings rely on a structured comparison of unions’ responses to the use of agency work and on-site subcontracting in four plants owned by two multinational companies in Italy and Germany.

Contesting the Great Compression: The National Labor Relations Board and Skilled Workers’ Struggle to Control Wage Differentials, 1935–1955

This article argues that federal labor policy was a factor in causing the Great Compression, the dramatic compression of skill-based wage differentials that occurred in the 1940s, and in bringing it to an end. By giving the National Labor Relations Board the power to determine the appropriate collective-bargaining unit, New Dealers gave industrial unions the means with which to build a more egalitarian wage structure. Unskilled and semiskilled workers seized the opportunity and voted themselves big pay raises. Skilled craftsmen responded by petitioning the NLRB for permission to form their own craft bargaining units, a process known as “craft severance.” As conservatives gained influence in Washington in the 1940s, the board adopted a bargaining-unit policy more favorable to craft unions. By the early 1950s, skilled craftsmen had regained control of their wage demands and thereby helped bring the Great Compression to a halt.

THE ELECTORAL CLOUT OF UNIONS IN JAPAN: VOTE MOBILIZATION IN COMPANY TOWNS

Interest groups and other organizations are crucial vehicles for voter mobilization, but variations in their capacities are not well understood. To clarify the ways in which vote mobilization capacities vary, I analyze vote mobilization in two private-sector industrial unions supporting the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The Japanese Federation of Textile, Chemical, Food, Commercial Service and General Workers’ Union (UA Zensen), has a very large membership but mobilizes few votes. The Confederation of Japan Automobile Worker's Unions (JAW), on the other hand, has fewer members but mobilizes more votes. In this article, I argue that unions whose constituent units operate company towns are most successful in mobilizing votes. Organizational capacity –independent of membership size – matters in the electoral arena. Using data from House of Councillors elections, I show that those industrial unions that include many enterprises with company towns have advantage in voter mobilization.

EVALUATION OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF CIVIL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION, FURNITURE AND WOODWORKERS, NIGERIA AND ITS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROGRESSIVE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE STAKEHOLDERS

This paper discussed the structure of the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, furniture and woodworkers, Nigeria and its contributions to the existence of a harmonious and progressive relationship among the stakeholders in the union since 1994 when it was formed. The union is a merger of two formerly independent industrial unions from the restructuring of the unions in Nigeria in 1978. The paper identified the contribution of structure as key in the attainment of peace and progressive among the stakeholders in the union and recommends the use of appropriate structure in the running of the affairs of an organization since it has the potentials of contributing to peace and progress in the organization.

Gender and Trade Unionism in Historical Perspective

This chapter examines the historical link between gender and unionism by focusing on variations among labor unions in policies and practices affecting women from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. After reviewing the debate about women's participation, membership, and leadership within unions, the chapter discusses four major waves of unionization that have produced four distinct cohorts of labor organizations, each of which formed in a different era of labor movement growth: the craft unions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the industrial unions that took shape in the needle trades in the 1910s; the larger wave of industrial unions that emerged in the 1930s, and the public- and service-sector unions of the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on sociological theories of organization, it then considers the conditions under which unions have been effective political vehicles for women workers. It shows that the political effectiveness of unions for women workers is correlated with the historical conditions under which each wave of unions first developed, as well as their age and maturity as organizations.