COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND LABOUR ARBITRATION IN THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR OF THE FCT, 2007-2014

This study investigated Collective Bargaining and Labor Arbitration in the Nigerian Public Services: A Study of the Educational Sector in the FCT (2007-2014). 4 research questions with corresponding 4 hypotheses were generated to guide the study. The study used cross-sectional survey research design. The population of the study consisted of all the 3,238 teachers in 56 public senior secondary schools’ in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The sample of this study consisted of 706 teachers from 25 schools in the selected 4 Area Councils of FCT, Abuja. In the first phase, the population of the study was stratified based on Area Councils schools and teachers respectively. In the second phase, a simple random sampling technique was used to select 4 area councils based on 60 % while 50% was used to select schools and 40% for the selection of the respondents. The sampling procedure was done through the lucky-dip method of simple random sampling technique. The researcher designed a questionnaire which was administered to teachers.. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the formulated null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Chi-Square Statistic. The findings of the study were as follows: there is a significant difference between collective bargaining and industrial conflict resolution in educational sector in FCT, there is a significant difference between collective bargaining and workers’ welfare services in educational sector in FCT, there is a significant difference between collective bargaining and securement of the fundamental human rights of workers in educational sector in FCT and collective bargaining has a significant impact on staff working conditions in educational sector in FCT. The study recommended that since collective bargaining is a useful tool for conflict resolution, employers of public secondary schools teachers in FCT should always bargain with the FCT chapter of the NLC whenever there is conflict to resolve it peacefully rather than the use of threats of sacking the workers or strike by the workers to resolve such conflict, the conditions for workers’ welfare services should be clearly spelt out in a joint meeting between the employers and the labour union so that every worker will be able to identify the benefits he or she stands to derive as a worker of a given organization. The knowledge of such welfare services will help the workers to be more committed in carrying out their job effectively, employers of labour should be trained through workshops, seminars, conferences etc. by the government on the need to understand the relevance of implementing the International Labor Organization provisions on workers’ fundamental human rights