TRADE UNIONISM IN NIGERIA: AN ASSOCIATION OF LIKE MINDS

Abstract

Trade Union is an association that is made up of group or combination of workers or combination of employers with the principal purpose of regulating the terms and conditions of employment of workers. In Nigeria, apart from the right to form or join a trade union which the association enjoys in order to protect their interest, they have been reduced to an association of like minds where aggrieved persons gather to lament about poor working conditions. Unfortunately, the Government that is supposed to protect the weak (workers) against their masters (employers) is the largest employer of labour, thereby refusing to make the right laws and implementing policies that can better the lives of workers and thus, it has not been easy with the employees in Nigeria right from the birth of trade unions, employees continue to suffer in the hands of successive administration from federal, state and down to the local government.