NEW TRENDS IN ENFORCEMENT OF COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS NIGERIA

Abstract

Industrial relations and contract of employment are both institutional and individual in nature. At the level of the individual, he contracts with the employer at a personal law of contract of employment level while it is also institutional because trade union(s) formed by the cooperation and collaboration of aggregate of employees take advantage of the constitutional right to freedom of association among other rights. Enforcement of collective agreement voluntarily entered into by the employer and trade union ought to be mutual and devoid of bottlenecks at the time of enforcement. The essence of this paper is to ascertain and determine whether there are new trends and techniques for enforceability of collective agreement in the 21st century Nigeria. The methodology adopted in this paper is doctrinal as we examined the current statutes governing collective agreements, case laws, and opinions of scholars as regards collective agreement in the past, present and recommendations for the future. The paper further examined the status quo of collective agreements especially as it regards its enforcement by suggesting removal of bottlenecks which may stampede its smooth enforcement by the parties for their mutual benefits.