Download PDF
NIGERIA UNION OF CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL ENGINEERING WORKERS AND CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL ENGINEERING EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION 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/8/81 DATE OF JUDGEMENT TUESDA Y, 13TH JULY, 1982. LABOUR LAW Collective agreement - Conditions and practice attaching to an earlier collective agreement Subsistence of in a later collective agreement. Need to include a clear and unambiguous statement to that effect in the later one. LABOUR LAW Collective agreement - Interpretation of- Principle governing. LABOUR LAW Collective agreement - Where the wordings a later collective agreement differ significantly from those of an earlier one - Need to interpret the differently. ISSUES: 1. Whether it is correct that the court had approved the line-by-line method calculation of retiring benefits in Appendix "B" to Exhibit NJIC 1 in its judgment respect of Suit No: NIC/15/78 (the Costain case). 2. Whether the court can call in aid any material outside the Agreement to interpret agreement. 3. Whether the court should look at the surrounding circumstances of the Agreement in ascertaining the intentions of the parties during the negotiations with regard to the method of calculation to be used in interpreting Articles 9 and 12 of the new Agreement. FACTS; The parties entered into a collective agreement before the National Joint Industrial Council N.1C) dated 2nd June, 1980 (Appendix B to Exhibit NJIC1). Subsequently, a disagreement arose between the parties on the interpretation of Articles 9 and 12 of the Collective Agreement, which was referred to the National Industrial Court. The said Articles 9 and 12 relate to the scales of payment of redundancy benefits and gratuity retirement benefit respectively. HELD: (Interpreting clauses 9 and 12 of the Agreement): 1. On Principles governing interpretation of provisions of an agreement - The court cannot add anything to or omit anything from the provisions of an agreement between parties. The court can only attempt to discover the real intentions of the parties during the negotiations, and examine the wordings of the agreement in order to determine their correct interpretation. 2. On When a new collective agreement will be interpreted differently from the old collective agreement - Where the wordings of later collective agreement differ significantly from those of an earlier collective agreement between the same parties, it will be inferred from this variation that both parties consciously created a new agreement which must be interpreted differently from the old one. 3 On Need to include in a new collective agreement a statement that conditions and practices attaching to an earlier collective agreement should subsist in the new one- If a party intended during negotiations that any conditions or practices attaching to an earlier collective agreement should subsist in the new one, a clear and unambiguous statement to that effect should be included in the new Collective Agreement. 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