Ruling
Chinyere Bassey
Lagos, July 19, 2018 (NAN) The National Industrial Court (NIC) has not upturned any ruling of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) in the past six years, an official has said.
A former Administrator of IAP, Mr Linus Ukamba, made the disclosure on Thursday in Lagos in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The former IAP administrator spoke to NAN on why many trade unions avoid IAP.
Ukamba, also a former Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, said that the IAP adhered strictly to arbitration rules.
“There are rules in arbitration, and if people bend them, do not cover up for them.
“We deal with memos, not witness evidence. If parties state what they know about the case, what the law says about it and how it is supposed to be, it is easy to arbitrate.
“For instance, when a union reports a case of highhandedness by management to IAP, and there is nothing in the law on it to sanction the management, the union will lose,’’ he said.
He, however, said that a workers’ union could win a case in IAP against a management on grounds of management using a foul language on workers.
According to him, few unions that took cases to the IAP won because they know the labour law and defended it.
Ukamba said that it was regrettable that some trade unions had yet to be educated on arbitration issues to be able to represent their unions at IAP.
“The Arbitration Clause or Trade Dispute Act is beautiful for Nigerian workers and their unions.
“A union leader should be able to take a case to the IAP and defend it without a lawyer.
“A lawyer who is not trained in labour law or does not know the rules is likely to lose a case because there is no technicality in the IAP,’’ he told NAN.
He said that workers’ unions that took their issues before the IAP had better working relationship with employers because the issues were resolved amicably without compromising the law.
“We explain what the law is, and the party that is wrong will admit and make corrections,’’ he said.
Ukamba advised trade unions to be properly educated on arbitration to win cases before the IAP. (NAN)
CHIN/AAB/IGO
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Edited By Adeboye Ajayi/Ijeoma Popoola