Expanding profit and power. The National Union of Road Transport Workers in Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the power exercised by the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) over the transport workers in Lagos (Nigeria). With the privatisation of transport and the regulation of motor parks transferred from local governments to NURTW, the union has been able to expand the power of unionist leaders who have developed new managerial techniques to increase their own profits. The NURTW case reflects the adaptation of neoliberal norms within a union at the expense of its workers. The article suggests that union power over workers is as necessary a field of research as the recent renewal on power resources approach exploring the capacity of unions to empower workers.