The growth of agency labour in the Nigerian oil industry and its challenges for trade union organisation
type: CreativeWork
description: Over recent years amidst intensified and unrelenting global economic competitive pressures that have shaped the business environment within which organisations operate, many employers in both the private and public sectors in different countries around the world have responded by seeking to reduce labour costs through the specific mechanism of non-standard forms of employment (Forde and Slater, 2010; Teicher et al. 2006; Sanchez, and Schmitz, 200; Kalleberg 2000). This process has taken a particularly sharp form within the highly strategically important Nigerian oil industry, giving rise to a contemporary labour market characterised by widespread flexibility of work. It has resulted in a significant decline in so-called ‘standard forms of employment’ involving regular, permanent work alongside an alarming growth in ‘non-standard forms of employment’ involving vulnerable, precarious work (Adenugba and Jawadu, 2014; Kalleberg, 2009; Evans et al. 2007; Connelly and Gallagher, 2006). With the growing trend towards the agency workers through the use of employment agencies, there has been the emergence and consolidation of two-tier work arrangements involving differential employment relations contracts (Burgess et al. 2013:4084). Adopting a Marxist analytical framework, this thesis examined the ways in which the shift from direct-standard employment to a triangular employment relation in a crucial Nigerian arena of employment has become an increasing source of collective conflict within the employment relationships, between workers and their unions on the one hand, and the employers on the other. In the process, it considers the challenges and dilemmas for trade unions attempting to defend the terms and conditions of employment of different groups of workers, as well as the limits and potential of solidaristic forms of union within a highly fragmented context.The research study has been framed on a critical realism paradigm, with a focus on a mixed methods approach involv…
abstract: Over recent years amidst intensified and unrelenting global economic competitive pressures that have shaped the business environment within which organisations operate, many employers in both the private and public sectors in different countries around the world have responded by seeking to reduce labour costs through the specific mechanism of non-standard forms of employment (Forde and Slater, 2010; Teicher et al. 2006; Sanchez, and Schmitz, 200; Kalleberg 2000). This process has taken a particularly sharp form within the highly strategically important Nigerian oil industry, giving rise to a contemporary labour market characterised by widespread flexibility of work. It has resulted in a significant decline in so-called ‘standard forms of employment’ involving regular, permanent work alongside an alarming growth in ‘non-standard forms of employment’ involving vulnerable, precarious work (Adenugba and Jawadu, 2014; Kalleberg, 2009; Evans et al. 2007; Connelly and Gallagher, 2006). With the growing trend towards the agency workers through the use of employment agencies, there has been the emergence and consolidation of two-tier work arrangements involving differential employment relations contracts (Burgess et al. 2013:4084). Adopting a Marxist analytical framework, this thesis examined the ways in which the shift from direct-standard employment to a triangular employment relation in a crucial Nigerian arena of employment has become an increasing source of collective conflict within the employment relationships, between workers and their unions on the one hand, and the employers on the other. In the process, it considers the challenges and dilemmas for trade unions attempting to defend the terms and conditions of employment of different groups of workers, as well as the limits and potential of solidaristic forms of union within a highly fragmented context.The research study has been framed on a critical realism paradigm, with a focus on a mixed methods approach involv…
author: Itegboje, JO
language: en
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:26:30Z
provider: U. of Salford
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: U. of Salford