The president, National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) , Justice Benedict Kanyip on Thursday says harsh or unjust labour conditions leads to unproductive workforce.
Justice Kanyip said this in his welcome remark during the court’s 2nd Public Lecture with the theme: “ Labour justice and socio-economic development .”
The president said that aside from the literal connotation of the adage ” a happy employee is a productive employee”, it connoted something more profound.
He said that this was the reason the treaty that set up the International Labour Organisation ( ILO), was mandated to improve the conditions of workers by assisting in establishing rules governing labour conditions.
” Since peace can be established only if based on social justice, the drafters of the treaty reasoned that labour conditions are key to the sustainable development of societies.
” Humane conditions of work improve staff morale and so stimulate productivity, something beneficial to the economy”, Kanyip stated
Regarding the issue of tension in today’s labour law, Kanyip said that the tension was as a result of flexibility pushed by employers and security pushed by employees.
” The choice between flexibility pushed by employers who want a flexible labour market.
“Security as pushed by employees who want job/employment security is the key tension in today’s labour law.
” The attempts to balance these seemingly contradictory needs have led to the coinage of the word flexicurity”, he said
According to the president, the flexing of muscles between employers and employees on these issues had created its brand of distortions in the labour market.
Kanyip in addressing the issue of how digitalisation is affecting the worker, he said the saying “labour is not a commodity” should be rephrased as ” workers are neither commodities nor robots”.
He added that the disruptions that are now evident in the world of work as a result of digitalisation, that the ILO and nation states needed to step up their regulatory role.
” The problem this poses in terms of protection of workers and unfair competition must accordingly be addressed by appropriate regulation”.
Also speaking, the president of Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs Deborah Thomas-Felix, said labour was not a commodity nor an inanimate product that can be negotiated for the highest profit or the lowest price.
She presented a paper titled: “The role of Industrial Courts and International Labour Standards in promoting good governance to support economic and social development”.
” We can all agree that a market governed by a fair set of rules and a sound legal framework, will tend to be more efficient and brings better benefits to everyone.
“When compared to one without a proper structure and rules. The labour market is not different”, Thomas-Felix said.
Other dignitaries at the event included the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Donghan-Mensem, represented by Justice Haruna Zamani, former president of NICN, retired Justice Babatunde Adejumo, members of the inner and outer bar, president,
Nigeria Labour (NLC) Comrade Ayuba Wabba and members of the diplomatic corps.
