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PRINTING AND PUBLISHING WORKERS' UNION AND THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF INFORMATION (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) HON. JUSTICE (CHIEF) P.A. ATILADE PRESIDENT DR O.I. ODUMOSU MEMBER S.O. KOKU,ESQ. MEMBER DR. E.C. IWUJI MEMBER ALHAJI Z.M. BELLO MEMBER SUIT NO NIC/6/78 SUIT NO: 14th NOVEMBER, 1978 DATE OF JUDGMENT LABOUR LAW Employment of workers - Workers of a defunct corporation - Whether a new corporation will take over en masse without screening as to skill and qualification. LABOUR LAW Lock-out of workers - Where workers agreed that employer's premises should be handed over to another body on a specific date - Forcible ejection of workers therefrom on a day before the specified date - Whether constitutes lock-out of workers. LABOUR LAW Pensions - Pensions Act, No.39 of 1961 (as amended) - Application of - Whether applies to workers of Government Corporation. LABOUR LAW Redeployment of workers - Redeployment workers from corporation to government ministry. Whether will be treated as departmental transfer LABOUR LAW Reinstatement of workers - Where workers have been declared redundant - Whether issue reinstatement still arises. ISSUES: 1. Whether the Appellant's demand that all the workers be reinstated or retired still arose after the workers had been declared redundant in accordance with their conditions of service, with the appropriate payments of redundancy benefits, on the approval of the Federal Executive Council. 2. Whether members of the Union who were transferred to the Government's Press were entitled to be treated as if they had had a departmental transfer, and should retain their former salaries and seniority in service. FACTS: There was a dispute between the parties arising from the takeover of the Nigerian National Press of the Federal Ministry of Information. In the course of the proceedings before the Industrial Arbitration Panel, it made an order that the National Provident Fund deductions from the workers' salaries be refunded and the order was complied with. Claim (b) was thereby disposed of. But in respect of claims (a) relating to retirement or reinstatement and status of same categories of same workers. The I.A.P made no award, and in consequence, the Appellant appealed to the National Industrial Court. The appellants claimed that the way and manner the workers were forcibly ejected from the premises of the Nigerian National Press (N.N.P) on 31st May 1973 by Mobile Policemen at the quest of the Respondent constituted a lock-out contrary to the law. That the employment of the workers was not determined in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the condition of service for the staff of the Nigerian National Press. That although redundancy benefits were paid to the workers, redundancy should not arise in a situation where a whole institution like the Nigerian National Press was closed down. As regards the workers who were redeployed to other divisions of the Federal Ministry of Information, they should retain their last - earned salaries and seniority in the Nigerian National. Press. Such redeployment should, in effect, be treated as departmental transfer. The respondents on the other hand stated that the workers were given adequate notice, and some of them who were ejected from the premises of the Nigerian National Press on 31st May, 1973 were there unlawfully and were trespassers. There was therefore no lock-out. That notices of redundancy were properly served on the workers on 31st January, 1973. That when it was decided to dissolve the Nigerian National Press, the credentials of all its ere evaluated with a view to absorbing them into the Federal Ministry of Information, and those who were found suitable were re-absorbed. HELD: (Dismissing the Appellant s claim): 1. On Whether workers of a defunct corporation will be taken over en masse by a new corporation without screening as to skill and qualification - The workers or the employees of a defunct government corporation would not be taken over en masse by a new corporation without any screening as to skill and qualification. 2. On When forcible ejectment of workers from employer's promises will not constitute lock-out - Where workers had agreed that the premises of their employer should be handed over to another body as from a specified date on payment to the workers of accrued salaries, the forcible ejectment of the workers from the premises on a day before the specified date will not constitute a lock-out of the workers but only a pre-emptive action. 3. On Application of the Pensions Act No.39 of 1961 to corporation workers - The Pensions Act No.39 of 1961 (as amended) does not apply to corporation workers since they are not civil servants. 4. On Whether redeployment of workers from government corporation to government ministry will be treated as departmental transfer - The redeployment of workers from a government corporation to a government ministry will not be treated as departmental transfer, since the conditions of service in the civil service and government corporations are different. 5. On Whether reinstatement arises where workers have been properly declared redundant - Reinstatement of workers does not arise where the workers have been properly declared redundant in accordance with their conditions of service, with the appropriate payments of redundancy benefits. HON. JUSTICE (CHIEF) P.A. ATILADE - PRESIDENT DR O.I. ODUMOSU - MEMBER S.O. KOKU,ESQ. - MEMBER DR. E.C. IWUJI - MEMBER ALHAJI Z.M. BELLO - MEMBER