colonialism and military dictatorship, and are given the constitutional responsibility to hold government accountable to the people, do not have and cannot fight for basic conditions of service. The Essence of Collective Bargaining Usually, the employer gives to employees what is called the Staff Handbook. This contains what the employer expects of the worker and what management assumes to be its obligations. Such handbooks are usually one-sided and dictatorial. Since they are normally an imposition by the employer with little or no worker input, such rule books are subject to abuse. For example, an editor with Rhythm FM/Silver Bird Television came to see me at the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) in May 2006. He was a pioneer staff and had voluntarily resigned but the company had refused to pay him his entitlements. Of course, there was no Condition of Service and when we sought to be guided by the company staff handbook, we discovered that there were three versions; each written by the management and used interchangeably, depending on what goals it wants to achieve at a given time. All three were unsigned and the management could even deny that they exist! It was not until the management realised that I had asked my labour colleagues to picket the company that it quickly paid the journalist. So Collective Bargaining is a much more superior and acceptable system of governance at the workplace. Collective Bargaining is the process whereby workers on one hand and employers on the other hand dialogue and reach agreement in writing, regarding work conditions and terms of employment. When the product of such agreement is written, it is called Collective Agreement. Collective Agreements are usually in two parts. Procedural Agreements are the agreed procedures to be followed in settling grievances, taking disciplinary measures, declaring redundancy, reviewing or renegotiating a subsisting agreement. The second part is the Substantive Agreement which refers to agreements on issues like wages, paid annual holidays, hours of work etc. The entire system is called collective because it is a mutual dialogue and agreement between the employer and the employee. There are laws in each country that that guide this process; in our country, it is called the Labour Act.