Managing Labour Disputes in Nigeria’s Manufacturing Sector: A Professional Practice Study

This study examines the management of labour disputes within Nigeria's manufacturing sector, with specific reference to industrial operations in Kaduna State, North West Nigeria. The manufacturing sector in Kaduna hosts a significant proportion of Nigeria's industrial workforce and has historically been characterised by recurring labour actions, including strikes, work-to-rule actions, and factory lockouts resulting from wage disputes, poor working conditions, and collective bargaining failures. Using a professional practice research design, data were collected through structured interviews with 40 human resource managers, trade union officials, and industrial relations professionals across five manufacturing plants in Kaduna North and Kaduna South local government areas, supplemented by analysis of Nigeria Labour Congress arbitration records and factory-level collective bargaining agreements from 2020 to 2024. The theoretical framework draws from industrial relations theory and integrative bargaining theory. Findings indicate that factories with functional joint negotiation committees and proactive human resource conflict management practices experience significantly fewer work stoppages and shorter labour dispute resolution cycles. Inadequate compliance with minimum wage regulations and unilateral changes to factory working conditions were identified as the most frequent triggers for industrial actions. Recommendations include training industrial relations officers in principled negotiation skills, establishing industry-wide collective bargaining consultative forums, and strengthening the National Industrial Court's capacity for timely labour dispute adjudication. Keywords: labour disputes, manufacturing sector, Kaduna State, industrial relations, collective bargaining.