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IRON AND STEEL WORKERS UNION OF NIGERIA AND MANAGEMENT OF FEDERATED STEEL MILLS LTD. (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) HON. JUSTICE (CHIEF) P.A. ATILADE - PRESIDENT ALHAJI Z.M. BELLO - MEMBER M.A. BORISADE, ESQ. - MEMBER SUIT NO: - NIC/12/86 DATE OF RULING - THURSDAY, 30TH MAY, 1987 LABOUR LAW - National Industrial Court - Unconfirmed of the Industrial Arbitration Panel – Jurisdiction of to entertain dispute in respect thereof. LABOUR LAW - Trade dispute - Award of Industrial Arbitration Panel – Objection thereto - Time within which to file. LABOUR LAW - Trade dispute - Award of Industrial Arbitration Panel - Where unconfirmed - Whether constitutes judgment - Jurisdiction of National Industrial Court to entertain dispute in of. TRADE DISPUTE - Award of Industrial Arbitration Panel- Objection thereto - Time within which to file. TRADE DISPUTE - Award of Industrial Arbitration Panel – where Unconfirmed – Whether constitutes judgment - Jurisdiction of National Industrial Court entertain dispute in respect of. WORDS AND PH ARSES - Judgment - Meaning of. ISSUES: 1. Whether the unconfirmed consent award of the Industrial Arbitration Panel is a consent judgment in law, and whether the National Industrial Court can entertain an objection in respect of a consent award by an Arbitration Tribunal. 2. Whether an appeal is not the proper course of action in the course. 3. Whether the Appellant filed its objection to the IAP award out of time. FACTS: A trade dispute between the parties was referred by the Honourable Minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) in February, 1986 for settlement. The issues in dispute were: reinstatement of 19 workers said to have been dismissed; non-implementation of collective agreement; and workers locked out. The matter was heard by a sole arbitrator who issued an Award on 27th August, 1986. The Federal Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity gave notice of the Award to both parties on 8th September, 1986. They were given twenty-one days within which to lodge any objection, which either party might have to the Award, otherwise the Minister would proceed to confirm the Award, which shall then become binding on all the parties concerned. On 18th September, 1986 the Appellant gave notice of objection to the Award. Whereupon the minister referred the dispute to the National Industrial Court. The Respondent raised a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the dispute on the grounds that the terms of reference is a consent judgment; that appeal is not a proper cause in the case; and that the Appellant's objection to the IAP Award was filed out of time. HELD: (Dismissing the Respondent’s preliminary objection): 1. Whether unconfirmed award of Industrial Arbitration Panel constitutes judgment- Judgment has been legally defined to include any decision given by a court on a question or questions in issue between the parties to a proceeding properly before the court, and includes an award in proceedings in an arbitration if the award has, in pursuance of the law in force in the place where it was made, become enforceable in the same manner as a judgment given by a court in that place. In the instant case, the IAP award under consideration was not confirmed by the Minister as required under section 9(3) of the Trade Disputes Act, and a notice of objection to the award was duly filed by the Appellant within time, whereupon the Minister referred the dispute to the National Industrial Court under section 10(1) of the Trade Disputes Act 1967. 2. On Jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court in respect of an award, which has not been confirmed and gazetted - The National Industrial Court has jurisdiction to entertain an objection in respect of an award by an arbitration tribunal, which has not been confirmed and gazette, since the dispute has not been resolved and an objection has been filed within time. Thus, an appeal to the National Industrial Court is an appropriate cause of action in that circumstance. 3. On Time within which to file objection to award of Industrial Arbitration Panel - The period within which to file objection to an award of the Industrial Arbitration Panel is 21 days from the day the Minister issued the notice of the award. In this case, the objection was filed within time as the notice of award was issued on 8th September, 1986 while the Appellant filed its objection on 18th September, 1986. H ON. JUSTICE (CHIEF) P.A. ATILADE PRESIDENT, S.O. KOKU,ESQ. MEMBER, ALHAJI Z.M. BELLO MEMBER