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1. SENIOR STAFF ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES TEACHING HOSPITALS, RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND ASSOCIATED INSTITUTIONS OF NIGERIA (SSAUTHRIAI) 2. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA NURSES AND MIDWIVES (NANNM) 3. NIGERIAN UNION OF PHARMACISTS, MEDICAL TECHNOLOGISTS AND PROFESSIONS ALLIED TO MEDICINE (NUPMTAPAIM) 4. MEDICAL AND HEALTH WORKERS UNION OF NIGERIA (MAHWUN) 5. ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS OF NIGERIA 6. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RESIDENT DOCTORS OF NIGERIA (NARD) 7. NIGERIA ASSOCIATION OF HOSPITALS AND ADMINISTRATIVE PHARMACISTS (NAHAP) AND 1. FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES 2. OFFICE OF ESTABLISHMENT AND MANAGEMENT SERVICES (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) HON. JUSTICE M.A. BORISADE PRESIDENT AMBASSADOR M.S. SALEH MEMBER CHIEFM.G DABIBI MEMBER PROF. B.B. KANYIP MEMBER MRS.V OKOBI MEMBER SUIT NO: NIC/12/2000 DATE OF RULING JUNE 8, 2001 LABOUR LAW Trade union - Registration and recognition of under (Part B), Third Schedule to Decree 26 of 1996 - Trade unions not mentioned therein - Whether presupposes that they have not been registered and recognized. LABOUR LAW Trade union - Unregistered trade union - Prohibition of from performing any act in furtherance of a trade dispute - Section 2, Trade Unions Act. TRADE UNION LAW Trade union - Registration and recognition of under (Part B), Third Schedule to Decree 26 of 1996 - Trade unions not mentioned therein - Whether presupposes that they have not been registered and recognized. TRADE UNION LAW Trade union - Unregistered trade union - Prohibition of from performing any act in furtherance of a trade dispute - Section 2, Trade Unions Act. ISSUE Whether the 5th, 6th and 7th Appellants are registered and recognized trade unions, which should be allowed to continue to participate as parties in the suit. FACTS The counsel to the 4th Appellant raised a preliminary objection to the appearance of the 5th, 6th and 7th Appellants in the suit, on the grounds that they are non-juristic persons, which had no capacity for legal representation and that an unregistered trade union was barred statutorily from engaging in trade union activities, including collective bargaining and resolution of trade disputes. The counsel for the 4th Appellant, therefore, urged the court to strike out the names of the 5th, 6th and 7th Appellants as parties to the suit, and also strike out any process they might have filed in that capacity. The court therefore heard the submission of counsel for all the parties on the issue. HELD (Upholding the preliminary objection): 1. On Registration and recognition of trade unions under Decree 26 of 1996- Prior to 1996 there were forty-one registered Trade Unions recognized by the Federal Government. Decree No.4 of 1996 further restructured the existing Trade Unions and reduced them to twenty-nine as contained in the Federal Official Gazette No.11 of February 12, 1996. Part B of Third Schedule of Decree 26 of 1996 indicated the jurisdictional scope of each of the twenty-nine restructured Trade Unions. There was no mention of the 5th, 6th and 7th Appellants, which presupposes that they have not been registered and recognized. 2. On Prohibition of unregistered trade union from performing any act in furtherance of a trade dispute - Section 2 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap.437, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 prohibits a trade union which has not been registered from performing any act in furtherance of a trade dispute. The very fact of bringing an action is an act in furtherance of trade dispute. In this case, it would be a violation of the Trade Unions Act, if the 5th, 6th and 7th Appellants were allowed to continue to participate as parties in the suit, when they had not been registered and recognized. The court, therefore, struck out the names of the three unregistered trade unions 5th, 6th, and 7th Applicants as parties in the suit.