ABSTRACT

 The study evaluated employment relations in small and medium scale rice mills in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Beyond the broad objective, the study sought specifically to identify the nature of employment relations in the small and medium scale rice mills, ascertain the nature of rules guiding employment relations in small and medium scale rice mills, find out whether employment relations promote harmony in the small and medium scale rice mills and identify the major challenges of managing employment relations in the small and medium scale rice mills. A total of 91 management and non management staff of small and medium rice mills were selected across the agricultural zones in Ebonyi state using stratified sampling technique from which data and information were elicited using the questionnaire. Analytically, the study employed descriptive statistics in attainment of specific objectives and employed Chisquare and Z-test in testing the hypotheses. The analytical result revealed that there is no smooth employment relations system between management and workers in small and medium scale rice mills (9.474<9.49), there are standard and positive rules guiding employment relations in small and medium scale rice mills (46.210>9.49), employment relations promote harmony in small and medium scale rice mills (3.358>1.96) and lack of strong and healthy trade unionism is the major challenge of managing employment relations in small and medium scale rice mills in Ebonyi State, Nigeria (3.330>1.96). The study concludes that maintenance of harmonious employment relations is vital and important for growth and development of the economy and recommends amongst others that management should involve their employees in decision making concerning employment related matters that may result to conflict.