Globalization and Trade Union Resistance in Nigeria

Abstract

Far reaching changes witnessed in the global economy encompassed in the term ‘globalization' have enormous implications for trade unions now said to be in a fatal decline due to irresistible neo-liberal economic globalization pressures. This paper examines the authenticity of such claims and found them problematic. Using the resistance put up against globalization by trade union movement in Nigeria, symbolized by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as case illustrations, the paper argues that the triumphalist projection of the market depicted by mainstream writers on globalization is exaggerated and ideological - rarely reflecting the trend in developing countries like Nigeria. Globalization is indeed being resisted by vulnerable classes in many countries and hence, nonlinear in its impact.

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Vol.7(1) 2004: 71-98