ABSTRACT
The Research Study was carried out to examine the causes of strike and effect on academic performance of student and a case study of Lagos State University. InChapter One, the topic was introduced with background to the study. This was discussed extensively. The chapter also included objectives and significance of the study, statement of the problem, research question, hypothesis, scope and limitation of the study with definition of terms. In Chapter Two, literatures relevant to the study were review. It also discussed theories relevant to the study. Chapter Threediscussed the methodology employed in the conduct of the research. This chapter also covered the research design research population, sample size, data instrument and statistical techniques. Chapter Four covered the presentation and analysis of data, the data collected from the research questionnaire were analyzed: and the research hypothesis was tested using Chi-square statistical method. Chapter Fivediscusses the recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Strike action also called labour strike or industrial, action is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employee(s) to work. A strike usually takes place in respond to employee grievances. ·Strike ‘became important during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries, they were quietly made illegal, as factory owners had far more political power than workers. Most western countries partially legalize striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.
Strikes are sometimes used to put pressure on government to change polices. Occasionally, strike destabilizes the rule of a particular political party or ruler. In such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance. A notable example is the stoppage of work by the indigenous railways workers in (1932) led by Pa Michael Imodu during the colonial era and the first general strike of (1945) in Nigeria.
Since 1970 to present time, workers demand for improved condition of work and wages have increased the number of strike actions as management most times would not accurately satisfy the needs and requests of employees even in the face of economic recession.
In this study, however, we are going to examine the causes of strike, i.e. consequences and impact in the achievement of trade union objectives.
Strikes are the most significant aspect of industrial conflict. Strike is defined as the temporary stoppage of work in the pursuance of grievance or demand. In practice however, ‘it has been difficult to separate strike from other forms of expression of industrial dispute as employer lock out workers and workers themselves embark on strike action.
It is more useful to view both phenomena as part and parcel of the conflict situation, not as opposite. Rarely does a strike occur over a single issue for an obvious cause may be linked with several other issues that not immediately apparent to the observation that have caused dissatisfaction because solutions to them have been long in coming. The actual occurrence of strike depends on several factors including prevailing circumstances. This also goes to show that few strikes occur spontaneously especially as there is no way of guaranteeing that strike actions instead of the other forms of industrial action would be decided upon by workers Involved.
Each time strike occurs substantial man – hour is lost, a good example is the first general strike of (1945), the (1993) ASU strike where universities in the country was closed for couple of months thereby causing set back in the tertiary institution. The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, the two major umbrella bodies of workers union in Nigeria mobilized workers for an indefinite strike action which commenced on Monday, 9th January, 2012 to drive home the protest against the fuel subsidy removal of January 1st 2012. The government of Nigeria removed fuel subsidy by increasing the price of petrol per litre from N65 to N141 on January 1st 2012.
This nationwide strike affected the country’s economy negatively where the volume of trading on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by 82 percent, local flights were grounded, and lifting of crude oil was hampered. The strike had a lot of effect on the major sector of the economy as activities of the, (NSE) that are trading slumped by 80%, while banks complied with the strike order and closed shop, the NSE opened for business as usual. But at close of trading, only 46.06 million shares were traded in 20 deals.
This is a significant reduction when compared with an average 262 million shares worth about N1.05 billion traded in 2,509 deals the previous week. The Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) has led a number of general strikes in the past to mention a few. In 2004, the Nigeria Labour Congress gave the Federal government an ultimatum to reverse the decision to introduce the controversial fuel tax or force a nationwide protest strike. The strike threat was made despite the fact that the Federal High Court judgment in an earlier dispute had declared the organization lacking legal power to call a general strike over government policies.
It is in this context that the research wishes to access the impact of strike action on the achievement of trade union objectives in both private and public sectors in Nigeria and how management policies/decisions are influenced by workers through the representatives (trade union) to the effect of harmonizing management polices with trade union objectives enhancing efficiency as well as maintain good industrial relation peace and harmony in the work place using.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The unstable industrial relation climate in Nigeria just within the decades has resulted in all-time record of lost working hours, unprecedented work stoppage as a result of strike action.
By October 1981,both federal and state government were broke, by December, seven out of the nineteen state governments could hardly pay the salaries of their employees; by June 1982,Bendel,Rivers,Cross Rivers, Benue and Imo States were owing teachers two to four months arrears. It was only when junior workers threatened strike action in Cross River state and teachers actually abandoned classes in Bendel State after not receiving January salaries as at April 1982 that both government cleared part of the outstanding amount .
In the first six months of the year 1982, Nigeria lost a total of 4,598 man- hours because of strike action by workers. The recent strike action embarked by Nigeria Labour Congress inJanuary, 2012 has cost the country millions of naira as all the sectors of the economy which engage in productivity activities in order to boost the gross domestic product of the economy were closed down for couples of days.