Re-Thinking the Role(S) of the Labour Union in Addressing Workforce Casualisation in the Manufacturing Industry of Lagos, Nigeria

The paper re-thinks the role(s) of the labour union in addressing workforce casualisation in the Nigerian manufacturing industry. Specifically, labour union leadership clout and industrial strikes, and protest actions were interrogated as important measures. The theoretical framework was provided by the Work-Stress Theory and Marxist Conflict Theory. A total of 12 trade union officials were purposively and conveniently sampled from two distinct trade union associations to participate in semi-structured interviews. The study found a diverse range of challenges faced by casual workers, the insincerity of purpose by labour union leaders, and how many of the strike actions initiated were for political gains and not in the interest of workers. The study makes a case for the effective monitoring of the activities of organisations, sanctions of politically-inclined union leaders working against the interests of workers, and a review of section 31(6) of the Trade Union Act of 2005 (as amended), which proscribes industrial strikes in Nigeria.