STRIKE ACTIONS BY MEDICAL PERSONNEL IN NIGERIA: ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL

Abstract

The paper on Strike Actions by Medical Personnel in Nigeria Ethical Considerations and Emotional Blackmail locates the disruptive action of strikes as part of labour engagement in the context of ethics and social psychology of emotional blackmail. This it does by going into the literature to juxtapose the public opinion on the strike actions by medical personnel vis -à-vis the sacredness of life that appears threatened under health sector strikes. It leaned on the arguments of Immanuel Kant on autonomy, Max Weber’s interpretive understanding and ethic of conviction, Irving Goffman’s thesis on self-presentation as it reflects on group identity, and Joseph Fletcher’s situation ethics to drive home the point that beyond the emotional attachment to preservation of life which goads sections of the public to condemn the strikes, the health system can ultimately benefit from the strikes if Government attention is secured as a result. In conclusion the medical personnel’s Kantian insistence on being seen as an end in themselves rather than a means to the ends of others expressed through the strikes can prove beneficial to the entire health care industry.