Interrogating Labour Strike in the Contemporary Nigerian Industrial Relations System: The Right and Limitations in Focus

This paper interrogates the issue of labour strike in the Nigerian industrial relations system. Central to the discourse are the accentuated matters of the right to strike and its limitations. From the extant literature, these duo components of industrial relations have customarily been objects of contestation and curtailment attempt from government and other employers of labour. This raises some pertinent questions, which are: Is incessant labour strike good for any industrial relations system? What is right to strike? and does it exist in Nigeria? and Is there any limitation on the right to strike in the country? or Is this limitation in conformity with the global principle? The answer to these questions constitutes the focus of the paper. No doubt, labour strike is worker’s right and a notable lubricant of the industrial relations system, It is a powerful tool in the hand of labour to assert their right, but it is a costly equilibrating mechanism, not good for any industrial relations system. The right to strike subsists within the Nigerian industrial relations system and endows labour with power to express their dissatisfaction, but guided by the framework of labour law and regulations. The paper unfolds that both the procedural and substantive limitations, imposed on the right to strike in Nigeria are in tandem with the global principle, but still need to satisfy the test of reasonableness.It recommends that industrial relations needs to be humanised and a better attitude of the state and other employers towards employees must be cultivated in order to reduce excessive industrial actions, foster peaceful co-existence and ensure amity between labour and management in Nigerian work organisations