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THE AUSTRIAN - NIGERIAN LACE MANUFACTURING COMPANY LIMITED AND NATIONAL UNION OF TEXTILE, GARMENT AND TAILORING WORKERS OF NIGERIA (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) H ON. 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/1/81 DATE OF JUDGEMENT - THURSDAY,1ST JULY, 1982. LABOUR LAW Termination of employment - Where workers accept letters of termination and receive terminal benefits - Effect of- Whether employer has further liability of payment of wages. LABOUR LAW Reinstatement of workers - Whether National Industrial Court will order - Rationale. LABOUR LAW Trade dispute - Lock-out - Meaning of- Section 37(1),Trade Disputes Act, 1976. LABOUR LAW Trade dispute - Termination of appointment of -Where done for purpose of intimidating other workers from forming trade union - Implication of- When constitute lock-out. LABOUR LAW Trade union - Existence of- When employer will be deemed to be aware of. LABOUR LAW Trade union - Recognition of trade union by employer - Registered trade union - Entitlement of to automatic recognition by employer. LABOURLAW Wages of workers - Where workers are read> and willing to work Employer failing to provide them with work - Whether workers entitled to be paid. TRADE DISPUTE Lock-out - Meaning of- Section 37(1), Trade Disputes Act, 1976. TRADE DISPUTE Lock-out - Termination of appointment - Where done for purpose of intimidating other worker? from forming trade union - Implication of -When constitute lock-out. TRADE UNION LAW Trade union - Recognition of trade union by employer - Registered trade union - Entitlement. of to automatic recognition by employer. ISSUES: 1. Whether there are sufficient grounds for overruling the second leg of the IAP award that this is a case of "lock-out" of the 16 workers by the Appellant. 2. What is the appropriate order the court should make in the circumstances of tie case. FACTS: In its Award on that leg, the IAP ordered the workers locked-out to be reinstated, and p:-their salaries or severance pay as applicable. The Appellant objected to the Award appealing to the National Industrial Court. There was a dispute between the Appellant and the Respondent, the second leg of which was the issue of lock-out of all employees who were members of the Respondent by Appellant. The dispute was referred to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP). HELD: (Granting severance pay and other benefits to the Respondent instead reinstatement): 1. On Meaning of lock-out - By virtue of Section 37(1) of the Trade Disputes Act, 1976 "lock-out" means closing of a place of employment, or the suspension of work, or the refusal by employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him consequence of a dispute, done with a view to compelling those persons, or to another employer in compelling persons employed by him, to accept terms employment and physical conditions of work. 2. On When termination of appointment of workers can constitute a lock-out- The termination of the appointments of all known officials of a proposed branch union, with other workers who had declared interest of becoming members of the union, done with the sole purpose of intimidating other employees from forming the branch union constitutes a lock-out. 3 On Entitlement of registered trade unions to automatic recognition by employer - Section 22 of the Trade Unions Act, 1973 (as amended by the 1978 Act) confers automatic recognition on registered trade unions, and an employer's refusal to deal with the representatives of registered union is contrary to the law. 4 On When an employer will be considered to be aware of the existence of a trade union - The selective termination of the appointments of workers who had signed a trade union membership declaration form indicates that the employer was aware of the existence of the trade union. 5 On Whether workers ready and willing to work entitled to wages where employer fails to provide them with work - Where an employer fails to give work to its workers who are ready and willing to work, :he workers are entitled to be paid wages at their normal rates of pay on each day on which they reported to work. The employer's refusal to pay the workers is a breach of section 16(1) of the Labour Act, 1974. 6 On Effect where workers accept letters of termination and receive terminal benefit - Workers who, on being issued with letters of termination, accept the letters and receive their terminal benefits have, by their action, discharged the employer from further liability to payment of wages under their contracts of service with effect from the dates ?f the letters. 7 On Whether National Industrial Court will order reinstatement of workers The National Industrial Court will not, for reasons of practicality and enforcement order for the reinstatement of workers. 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