Abstract

This paper examined the influence of wage determination in different economic periods (boom or recession) on the frequency of industrial unrest in the public service in Nigeria. This work is prompted by the fact that the state of the economy of any nation has a way of influencing the frequency and intensity of wage-related industrial unrest in the public service. During boom periods the government is expected to be a lot more magnanimous with meeting the demands of workers and general improvements in their work conditions and as a result wage-related industrial unrest is expected to be on the increase. During periods of economic recession or austerity on the other hand, workers are expected to exercise some level of restraint with regards to wage demands knowing fully well that the money is not there. Unfortunately, in the Nigeria situation that is not always the case, even when it is clear that the funds are available, Government continues to claim that there are no funds. This explains why during periods of economic boom and recession, workers’ demands for wage increases do not abate in any way because the Government can never be trusted. When the economy was vibrant the Government did not do much to better the lots of workers, so for the workers it does not matter whether the economy is in recession or not, their demands will have to be met by Government. This paper therefore contends that government should always endeavour to do the needful in terms of improving the lots of workers when the resources are available so that when there is economic problem the workers will understand.