The Machinery of Collective Relations

We have already seen that the environment plays an important part in the type of industrial-relations system that emerges in any country (see Chapter 1). Changes that have been taking place in the Nigerian environment have invariably affected the country’s institutions, and industrial relations has in consequence been affected. Thus, although the British model of industrial relations was imported into Nigeria, the environment has affected it to such an extent that what has now emerged and continues to develop, is completely different from both the original model and what obtains today in the UK. In the UK, national policy is still predicated on laissez-faire doctrine with both sides of industry left largely to determine the scope of relations between them. The role of government is to ensure that facilities are provided that will enhance collective bargaining. The law intervenes only when both parties have exhausted their own internal procedures and when the presence of a third party may be necessary to break the impasse. Even then, the statutory procedures are voluntary and there is generally no obligation on either party to submit to the statutory machinery.