COURT AFFIRMS CONUA, NAMDA AS TRADE UNIONS

The National Industrial Court on Tuesday affirmed the recognition of the Congress of Nigerian University Academics and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics as trade unions.
The claimant in the suit, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, dragged the Minister of Labour and Employment; The Registrar, Trade Union; CONUA and NAMDA as first, second, third and fourth defendants, respectively, before the NIC.
Delivering judgement, Justice Benedict Kanyip held that, in line with the International Labour Organisation Act, there can be more than one trade union within an employment.
In addition, the judge stated that contrary to the claimant’s submission that Section 3(2) of the Trade Union Act made the first and second defendants incompetent to register CONUA and NAMDA to coexist and carry out the same functions in the universities as ASUU.

The court in arriving at its decision held that the claimant in its submission stated that the first and second defendants approved the registration of CONUA to operate in the universities as a trade union on Oct 4, 2022.