Effects of COVID-19 on labour relations in Nigeria navigating through the murky waters by balancing contending interests

Abstract

The outbreak of Covid-19 in Nigeria and the need for its curtailment, led the government to take drastic safety measures. Some employers have resorted to remote working which made apparent, the lack of usefulness of certain categories of workers. Some employers subsequently resorted to unilateral termination of employment, pay cuts, redundancy declaration, asking workers to proceed on leave with or without pay, no work, no pay, and alteration of contracts of employment, all in a bid to remain afloat. Most of these measures, aside not meeting up to minimum best practices, are at variant with the socio-economic aspect of employment relations as they have exposed the affected workers and their dependants to hardship. This paper adopts a desk-based methodology in examining the effects of covid-19 on employment relations in Nigeria by interrogating the proprietary of cost-cutting measures adopted by employers to weather the storm of covid-19 and their socio-economic effects on the workforce and the nation at large. It found that covid-19 has set at loggerhead, the interest of the workers and employers which requires balancing through dialogue and transparent renegotiations of terms and conditions of contract and the creation of employment by the government. It makes recommendations on how to balance this contending interest for a buoyant and harmonious employment relation during and post covid-19 Nigeria.