Abstract
The linkage between human rights and trade unionism is theoretically and pragmatically a valid one, for trade unionism is a form of social action through which workers’ rights are supposedly protected. The relationship between human rights and trade unionism is that between ‘end’ and ‘means’; trade unionism is one of the mechanisms for ensuring human rights. If trade unionism champions workers’ rights, the relationship between human rights and trade union rights is that between ‘a whole’ and ‘a part’. At a more general level trade unionism has the capacity for promoting political rights, as it has the potential to check excesses and abuses of political power. Trade unionism can also compel the state to fulfil its fiduciary responsibility to the citizens.
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Notes
Wogo Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa (London: C. Hurst in association with Mwamife, Enugu, 1979) p. 236.
See O. Oyediran (ed.), Survey of Nigerian Affairs 1975 (London: University Press in association with Oxford University Press, 1978) pp. 204–8.
Ukandi Godwin Damachi, The Role of Trade Unions in the Development Process—With A Case Study of Ghana (New York, Washington and London: Praeger, 1974) p. 122.
Allan Flanders, Management and Unions (London: Faber & Faber, 1970) p. 41.
Akintunde Emiola, Nigerian Labour Law (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1982) p. 191.
Willard A. Beling (ed.), The Role of Labour in African Nation Building (New York, Washington and London: Praeger, 1968) p. 3.
Brun-Otto Bryde, The Political Sociology of African Legal Development (Frankfurt: Alfred Metzer, 1976) p. 36
Charles Humana, World Human Rights Guide: The Facts on Freedom, Repression and State Power (London: Hutchinson Press, 1983) 30–75. One should note however that Humana’s survey was restricted to civil and political rights. This does not undermine the utility of the study as discussed in this chapter.
International Institute of Human Rights, Collection of Lectures: Texts and Summaries (Strasbourg: International Institute of Human Rights) 1984, p. 8.
E. E. Uvieghara, Trade Union Law in Nigeria (Benin City: Ethiope, 1976) ix.
See B. O. Nwabueze, Nigeria’s Presidential Constitution 1979–83: The Second Experiment in Constitutional Democracy (New York: Longmans, 1985) p. 225.
Wogu Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Nigeria (Benin City: Ethiope, 1969) 98–119, note 22.
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© 1989 David P. Forsythe
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Okunade, A. (1989). Human Rights and Trade Unionism in Africa: The Nigerian Experience. In: Forsythe, D.P. (eds) Human Rights and Development. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19967-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19967-9_4
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