**6. Mechanisms for resolving public sector crisis by government and labour**

Conflict resolution mechanisms may differ from organisation to organisation but there are established strategies that have been in use. Whether in private or public sector, the following can be said to be the evolving methods of conflict resolution. These strategies include mediation, conciliation and arbitration. These are referred to as alternate disputes resolution (ADR) mechanisms deployed by disputants, and who are willing to abide by settlement terms. Experience has shown that disputing parties use these ADR methods because they are relatively expeditious, private, and generally much less expensive than resorting to the courts.

The use of any of these methods involves some form of bargaining, commonly referred to as collective bargaining (CB). As a concept, Rose [4] reports that the term was originated by Webb and Webb to describe the process of agreeing terms and conditions of employment when the representatives of employers, and that of the employees. Rose [4] explains that CB could also be defined as a process whereby representatives of employers and employees jointly determine and regulate decisions pertaining to both substantive and procedural matters within the employment relationship.

In the Nigerian public sector, crisis emanating from industrial disputes of serious magnitude, has been subjected to the collective bargaining process. For example, crisis triggered by national strikes that had the tendency to constitute security threats to the government, has had to be resolved through a collective bargaining process. The challenge in this is that the place and role of the state, in most cases, tend to vitiate the effectiveness of this process. This aligns with the view of Adebisi [14], who lamented the highhandedness of the Nigerian government in respect of labour matter for making a nonsense of these mechanisms or procedures for dispute settlement. More often than not, the Nigerian government fails to honour its own agreement with labour, thereby setting poor standards for employers in the private sector. Violations of agreements reached through collective bargaining process have occurred more during the military regime(s) in Nigeria. It is on record, and clearly too, that the military has violated more agreement reached out of collective bargaining than constitutional democracy in Nigeria or the world over. In this instance, Adebisi [14] has cited the failure or reluctance of government to honour a number of agreements with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC. The current federal government of Nigeria is in the midst of reaching agreement with the organised labour in respect of minimum wage over which there had been disruptive strike actions which had occasioned security nightmares all over the country.

The interesting thing about the adoption of the collective bargaining process as a mechanism for resolving labour issues in Nigeria appears to be the only means possible hitherto. This is not to prejudice the possibility of either improving on the process for more effective operation or exploring additional measures that will complement the process.

At this point, and by way of digression, it is necessary to mention that there are conflict resolution mechanisms peculiar to the private sector. This applies to small businesses, where success often depends or rests on the cohesion of a few people, the loss of trust and productivity can be a challenge to the continued existence and growth of the business. For such businesses, it will be helpful to rely on the prescriptions of Dontigney [1] who had identified the following conflict management

**143**

phenomena;

organisations;

seems to have been institutionalised.

stability;

stability.

*Crisis Management in Nigeria's Public Sector and the Impact of the Organised Labour Union…*

strategies that can be deployed in addressing conflictual relationships. These include—accommodating strategy which essentially entails giving the opposing side what it wants. The use of this strategy occurs when one of the parties wishes to keep the peace or perceives the issue as insignificant; the avoidance strategy, which seeks to put off conflict indefinitely. The mechanism hopes the problem resolves itself without a confrontation; the collaboration strategy works by integrating ideas set out by multiple people. This method is deployed to find a creative solution acceptable to everyone; the compromising strategy is used when parties to a conflict may have to give up elements of their position in order to establish an acceptable solution. This strategy applies in conflicts where the parties hold approximately equivalent power; and lastly, the competition strategy operates in a situation where one side to a conflict wins and other loses. This is also referred to as a zero-sum

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89562*

game. In politics, such is described as winner takes all.

**7. Industrial harmony and political stability: Any nexus?**

ments in terms of provision of security and welfare for the citizens. Consequently, the following themes can be identified and posited:

• That industrial harmony and political stability are two inseparable

• That the former (industrial harmony) is a sine qua non for the latter political

• That both conditions can be facilitated by the state (government) and labour

• That there exists a link (nexus) between industrial harmony and political

This study is inclined to observe that industrial disputes, if poorly managed or not addressed, will ultimately lead to protests, demonstrations and strikes. Workers, worldwide have always resorted to strike actions when the sides to disputes fail to reach mutual agreement. In the case of the public sector crisis, where the Nigerian industrial relations system today to be replete with cases of violations of negotiated agreements as a result of executive lawlessness, the resort to strike actions by workers, usually organised and called by the organised (central) labour organisation

• That crisis/conflict in human interactions is inevitable;

To be able to provide a rational and an objective response to this question, it is necessary to aggregate the elements that constitute industrial harmony and political stability by drawing from the insights on the terms as highlighted in the foregoing. As indicated earlier in this study, since the relationship between the government and the labour organisation are structurally antithetical in terms of objectives and functions it is therefore unavoidable that there will always be frictions from time to time as both sides seek to achieve their aims and objectives. But for the sake of peace and stability, it is expected that both sides will continue to engage and synergise to create and advance industrial harmony, a sine qua non to stability, to ultimately provide a conducive environment for governance. Ensuring peace and stability will facilitate the discharge of the world-wide constitutional responsibility to govern*Crisis Management in Nigeria's Public Sector and the Impact of the Organised Labour Union… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89562*

strategies that can be deployed in addressing conflictual relationships. These include—accommodating strategy which essentially entails giving the opposing side what it wants. The use of this strategy occurs when one of the parties wishes to keep the peace or perceives the issue as insignificant; the avoidance strategy, which seeks to put off conflict indefinitely. The mechanism hopes the problem resolves itself without a confrontation; the collaboration strategy works by integrating ideas set out by multiple people. This method is deployed to find a creative solution acceptable to everyone; the compromising strategy is used when parties to a conflict may have to give up elements of their position in order to establish an acceptable solution. This strategy applies in conflicts where the parties hold approximately equivalent power; and lastly, the competition strategy operates in a situation where one side to a conflict wins and other loses. This is also referred to as a zero-sum game. In politics, such is described as winner takes all.
