Unionism in Institutions of Learning
A sub-title of the book- Educational Management: New Perspectives
This sub-title is on unionism in institutions of learning. Unionism practices the policies of trade/labour or student unions; trade/labour or student unions are the channels for unionism. The concept of unionism is the coming together of like minds of the same or different profession(s)/occupation(s) working together in an organisation (in this context), including institutions of learning, inorder to protect or agitate for the rights and welfare of their members and the society through collective bargaining. When the processes of collective bargaining fail they embark on industrial actions such as strikes and protests/demonstrations (Omidiran, 2002). These strike actions and protests/demonstrations could be accompanied with or characterised by deaths, destruction of properties, closure of schools and so on.
The different trade/labour unions in institutions of learning are ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT in the universities; ASUP, SSAPU and NAPU in polytechnics; COEASU, NASU in colleges of education. NUT and ASSUS in primary (lower &middle basic), junior (upper basic) and senior secondary schools respectively. The student union is the SUG in tertiary institutions. Membership of these unions is voluntary and they all have a common goal of ensuring that the rights of their members are protected and the provision of better welfare packages for their members is guaranteed.
The strike actions and protests by these unions do not augur well for national development and they constitute wastage to parents, students, government and the society at large because of closure of schools, destruction of properties, disruption of academic calendars leading to students not graduating on record time, loss of man hours, loss of lives and production of half baked students among others. Therefore, government/management should ensure that conflicts are managed and not resolved.
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