Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1989, published 76th ILC session (1989)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Nigeria (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee takes note of the Government's report on the application of the Convention.

For a number of years, the Committee has been observing that, although certain categories of workers (persons exercising executive, technical and administrative functions, agents and commercial travellers, self-employed workers and persons employed in a vessel or aircraft to which the civil laws apply) are entitled, according to the Government, to associate in occupational organisations or to join trade unions by virtue of the Trade Unions Act, they are not covered by the provisions of the Labour Decree of 1974 (No. 21), concerning the protection of workers against acts of anti-union discrimination, since section 90 of the same Decree excludes them. It also noted that the Senate Committee on Labour was to examine the situation with a view to amending the legislation on this point.

The Committee notes from the Government's report that the Senate Committee has been replaced by the National Labour Advisory Council, a tripartite body responsible for reviewing all labour laws and that the conclusions of the above Council will be forwarded as soon as the review exercise is completed.

The Committee again recalls that, under Article 1 of the Convention, it is not enough for the above-mentioned categories of workers to enjoy the right to organise; this provision of the Convention implies that specific measures, in particular legislative measures, accompanied by civil remedies and penal sanctions, must be taken to guarantee the protection of workers against any acts of anti-union discrimination, both at the recruitment stage and in the course of employment. The Committee therefore urges the Government to amend its legislation so as to ensure that the above categories of workers excluded from Decree No. 21 of 1974 are granted the protection due to them under this provision of the Convention.