Trade Unions as Organisations: Key Issues and Problems of Internal Democracy in Nigeria

The paper critically examines and evaluates inter alia Trade Unions asOrganisations and the key issues and problems of Internal Democracywithin them. It transcends this analysis to assert that these core issues applyequally well to Political Organisations. Thus, from an ideological standpoint,Trade Unions play a great role in representing members’ interests inregulating labour market and Managerial Relations with employees.Similarly, it is the opinion of this article that theoretically speaking and tosome extent, Trade Unions adopt democratic constitutions by giving theirmembers ultimate control over certain policy decisions and the organisationof their own union activities. Achieving internal democracy within TradeUnions requires more than just member activism, and ipso facto, the papercontends that a democratic union must have a mix grill of three basicfeatures – a (i)democratic constitution,(ii) institutional opposition and(iii) anactive membership. Trade Union Organisations and by extension, politicalorganisations, must build their governance around these democraticprinciples ad nauseam.