The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • ‘Politics has been commercialised’

    Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),  Comrade Joe Ajaero, has said elections have been commercialised in the country and it was becoming a no-go-area for the working class. He said this is the major factor hindering workers from partaking in politics.

    He said any worker that wants to go into politics may have the best ideas, but if he doesn’t have enough money, there is no way he can be successful in politics.

    “If you work for 35 years, and you have four kids and dependent relatives, no matter your salary, it will be difficult for you to save enough to buy a ticket or a nomination form of any party. You may have the best ideas, but when it comes to that, you discover that you can’t make it.

    Comrade Ajaero said unless probably while working, one was fortunate to have made money either by combining his work with other things, but the end product is that he needs to still go to godfathers. And if he  is somebody that runs a policy that is based on principle and yhe don’t want to be controlled by godfathers, it will equally be difficult for him to go and succumb to godfathers.

    Ajaero said solution might not be in sight because there is so much poverty and there is nothing anybody can do about it. According to him, most people feel that even if it is N1000, it is their share without knowing that they are mortgaging their future. He said the value system in Nigeria has been bastardised. As he pointed out, if one is a graduate in Nigeria for four, five years and he doesn’t have a job, people look down on him.

    He said the crave for money is becoming the in thing. In those days, people were afraid to steal so as not to dent their family reputation, but these days, people steal so much and they give you chieftaincy title. Until we remove this attachment on money, we are going to find it difficult. It is a societal problem. To correct this, we have to go back to our schools, from when children are getting into primary school; it has to be a gradual process.”

  • Plan to make INTELS national terminal angers workers

    Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has advised the Federal Government against designating the INTELS Terminal, Onne Free Trade Zone, Port Harcourt, a national terminal for the clearance of heavy cargoes and deep draught vessels.

    The union warned that such a move  would have grave implications on job creation and security of its members, noting that this would not be tolerated under any guise.

    The Seaport Terminal Operators Association (STOA) had in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, dated October 14, 2014, drew the attention of the Presidency to excerpts from various addresses delivered at the recent commissioning of phase 4 projects embarked upon by INTELS  at Onne Port, which it said suggested a grand and deliberate design to designate the INTELS Terminal a National Terminal for the clearance of heavy lift cargoes and deep draught vessels.

    The letter was published in a national newspaper on October 17, 2014. Bbased on the publication, MWUN held its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Monday, October 20 at the end of which it issued a communique. The communique said: “We are alarmed by STOA’s publication in the media on October 17, on the developments arising from the recent commissioning of phase 4 Intels Project at Onne Oil & Gas Free Zone Ports, which has to do with, among others, the references made in the various addresses to the new operational capacity developed in the phase 4 project and the attendant attainment of 15 meters chart datum in the Berth and insinuations about a plot to designate the INTELS Terminal a National Terminal for the clearance of heavy lift cargos and deep draught vessels.

    The Union said that while it is not  going to talk about the implications of these insinuations or developments to other terminal operators, because they are in a better position to talk about how it will affect them, it is  much concerned about the job implications and job security of  its members. The Union noted that many of its members are working with stevedoring companies in the midstream or offshore operations with vessels.

    “We do not want to imagine or contemplate what will happen to the pool of Dockworkers in these locations, who are our members, if this policy is implemented. We do not want to believe that this is part of a grand design to weaken union’s solidarity and strength because if it is, government should better prepare for the consequences because we will resist it with the last drop of blood,” MWUN.

    In the communiqué signed by MWUN Secretary General, Mr. Aham Ubani,  the union reminded those whom it accused of pushing for this policy that the reasons for the appointment of stevedoring companies to midstream and offshore terminals, like STOA clearly started in its publication, was to create jobs and address youth restiveness as part of programme to sustain the amnesty offered insurgents during Niger Delta militancy era.

    The Union advised that such a policy should not be contemplated because it will not fold its hands and allow those with ulterior motives drive its members out of employment to join the saturated labour market. It said government should jettison such plan in the interest of industrial peace in the ports. The nation’s ports formations, the Union noted, have been peaceful, unless the government and those pushing for this policy do not want peace.

    “Needless to say that part of the reasons why there are security challenges and insurgency in the North, especially in the North East where the Boko Haram sect is because of the army of idle able bodied hands whose minds have now become the devil’s workshops. If we discover that government or those behind this ill-advised policy is going ahead with it, we will shut down ports to protect the jobs of our members. It is not a threat,” Ubani said.

  • NLC laments lack of worthy successors

    Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajearo has lamented the dearth of worthy successors to the trade union movement in the country, saying values have been tremendously destroyed. Ajaero, who spoke to reporters  in Abuja, blamed the situation on poverty, which he said was deliberately created  by Nigeria’s ruling elite for the deterioration of values. He noted that the development has adversely affected Nigerian student unions.

    He said that the present crop of students that make up the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) cannot fit into the union because of their approach to the struggle, unlike today’s unionists, who were also student activists during their time.

    “Today, you wonder the recruitment process. If you are to replicate it, will you say you want to recruit the kind of NANS you see today compared to the former ones that engaged General Ibrahim Babangida? When everyone left, it was only NANS that engaged him and the military.

    “Even the place you want to recruit from, what is left of it? So whatever is happening in the society has the tendency to reflect in other parts of the economy including labour, academics and others. The value system of graduates in Nigeria has been bastardised. You cannot do anyhow in those days. These days even when they know you are corrupt, they will celebrate and give you traditional title,” he said.

  • Labour wages battle against contract staffing

     Contract staffing, commonly called casualisation, it is said, reduces employees’ productivity and consequently affects the economy. Labour unions have risen against all forms of casualisation. TOBA AGBOOLA  writes.

    Contract staffing, popularly called casuali-sation in the Nigerian labour market has become a subject of great concern to labour unionists as more workers continue to groan under the immoral employers’strategy of cutting cost.  Many workers in the telecommunications, chemicals and allied, manufacturing,  mining, aviation, banking and insurance, oil and gas sectors are said to be affected by casualisation. In all these sectors, staff outsourcing and casualisation are said to have become the order of the day, as workers do not have regularised employment terms.

    According to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),  the continued engagement of casual labourers is at variance with provisions of section 17 (a) of the Constitution, which guarantees equal pay for equal work. The section frowns on discrimination on account of sex or any other ground whatsoever. In other words, discrimination in pay between permanent and casual employees should not exist. Also, contract staffing and casualisation, according to labour unions, contravene Section 7 (1) of the Labour Act, Cap 198 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990.

    The Act provides that, “Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker’s period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying the terms and conditions of employment, which include the nature of the employment and if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires must be stated.”

    Some of these provisions must have encouraged the organised labour unions, which last week, jointly held a rally in Lagos to wage war against casualisation and other precarious work conditions. At the rally, the labour unions sent warnings to the three tiers of governments, companies, especially Chinese-owned factories, to stop casualisation of workers. The rally, which started at Textile House, Acme road, Ogba Lagos, brought together affiliates of Trade Union Congress (TUC), NLC and  Civil society Organizations (CSOs).

    Speaking at the joint picketing of Linda Manufacturing Company, Agege, producer of Expression hair ‘attachment, the National President of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Oladele Hunsu described the ugly incidence as collective failure of the three tiers of government to enforce existing laws based on the anti-labour activities of companies in the country.

    Also speaking, President, Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN), Comrade Gafaru Mohammed said: “We are against indecent work in Nigeria and we are here today to protest against the death of a worker and maltreatment by the management. “In October last year, we did similar protest to express our displeasure over the anti-labour activities by companies, especially foreigners, who have converted our land into slave trade ground. We need decent jobs not just anyhow jobs and that is why we are against casualisation because casual workers, among other things, are not entitled to annual leave, and have no medical and other allowances”.

    The Assistant General Secretary, NUTGTWN, Comrade Ismail Bello explained that the essence of the rally was to sensitize the public and companies to stop precarious work and to let them know that workers have the right to join unions. “I can assure you that it is not going to be easy for any employer who engages in such act because unions have joined hands to fight this battle as their actions constitute absolute violation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 87, which guarantees freedom of association for workers and employers” he said, calling on the Ministry of Labour and Productivity to help in fighting casualisation.

    The National President,  Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Igwe Achese, who declared that Nigerians have the right to work, called on the labour movement to ensure that government created an enabling environment for Nigerians to be gainfully employed as the right to work recognises that economic growth alone is not enough to ensure equity, social progress and poverty eradication. He said: “We call on the labour movement to protect the right to work and fight for the elimination of unemployment. We also call on  the National Assembly to fast-track the review of the Labour Act 2004 and the passage of the Anti-Casualisation Bill to provide a framework to end casualisation.”

    The labour leader, who argued that the contemporary social needs of the Nigerians masses are expanding on daily basis while at the same time millions of worthy and experienced labour hands remain unused in unemployment, stated: “We call on government to initiate policies that would generate employment opportunities through enabling environment that would make investors to create more job opportunities. We urgently need government policies that would ensure the elimination of hunger,  diseases, protection of the environment, and improvement of healthcare, education, social services as public entities.

    “We also need the creation of public bodies for the protection against natural disasters, the satisfaction of the housing needs of the population, the implementation of policies for peoples’ sports and culture, and the proper use of natural resources. Technological and scientific progress require millions of workers.”

    The unions noted that companies are replacing their full-time workforces with temporary, casual, outsourced and contract workers. They said employers now hide behind what they call the ‘core’ value of their business to casualise over 70 per cent of their workforce.

  • Unity Schools’ strike continues, says ASCSN

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has directed that the industrial action  it commenced three weeks ago should continue until its demands particularly the payment of the promotion arrears are met. The union wants the payment made to its members in the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters, the inspectorate offices and the 104 Federal Unity Colleges in the country.

    The union’s Secretary General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, in a press statement, enjoined its members to remain firm and obey the strike order until directed otherwise by the union.

    The statement pointed out that the tripartite taskforce set up by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in respect of the strike has recorded some positive results.

    “We can confirm that the sum of N527, 643,440 has been released by the Budget Office to the CBN for onward transmission to the Federal Ministry of Education to start the payment of the first batch of promotion arrears. We are hopeful that the money will start dropping into the personal accounts of members of the union at the headquarters of the ministry, the inspectorate offices, and the 104 federal unity colleges beginning from Friday,” the union said.

    The ASCSN Secretary-General stated that during a meeting held at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity with the representatives of the Union and the Federal Ministry of Education in attendance. It was agreed that the tripartite taskforce should continue to work to ensure that the outstanding N1.7 billion (which covers all other arrears of promotion and other allowances) with the Budget Office is released.

    Among the conclusions reached at the  meeting was that both parties to the dispute should get the necessary mandate from their principals so that when the tripartite meeting reconvens, the strike would be reviewed. The Union’s secretary commended the heroic actions of members of the Union at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Education, the Inspectorate Offices, and the 104 Federal Unity Colleges for standing firm while carrying out the strike’s directive.

  • Labour faults NIMC claim on 600  fake workers

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has refuted claims by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) that there are 600 “fake members of staff” on its payroll.

    The association, in a statement  by its Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal,  said the hoax raised by NIMC over  the issue was a ploy to sack about 1,000 senior staff penciled down for rationalisation.

    The statement added that for inexplicable reason, the NIMC started a phased retrenchment of many of its staff, which had  led to the weeding out of 5,000 junior workers from the Commission.

    “After the sacking of about 5,000 junior staff, the NIMC management decided to also retrench 1,000 senior employees, who are members of this union. It was at that point that the union intervened, but since the NIMC management shunned all efforts by the association to resolve the dispute amicably, the association took the matter to the National Industrial Court for adjudication,” the statement said.

    The case is being handled by Enobong Etteh, an expert in labour jurisprudence from Rocheba Chambers.

    The ASCSN scribe recalled that the former Department of National Civil Registration (DNCR) under the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs transformed into the present National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in 2007.

    “Initially, the management of the NIMC stated that the senior staff it wants so desperately to dispense with are pool officers, who should be returned to the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,” he said.

    According to the union, when the NIMC could not push the position further, it began to campaign that the 1,000 senior employees do not possess requisite skills and competences and/or have irregularities in their records.

    “How can the staff, who have served the nation diligently for 20 to 33 years, be said not to be fit to work in the commission?  The truth of the matter is that some top management staff of the commission want to throw 1,000 senior employees into the job market in order to replace them with their relations and friends as they did after sacking the junior workers,” the union said.

    It, therefore, urged the public not to believe the lies it was being  fed with by the commission that there are  fake workers  in its workforce. “Moreover, the matter is before the NIC for determination and the court has granted an injunction restraining the respondent, its officers, servants, agents, privies or whosoever from commencing disciplinary process, constituting disciplinary panel, suspending the claimants, issuing any further queries or taking further steps/actions against the workers pending the determination of the suit before the court.

    “ In spite of the court injunction, the NIMC management has continued unabated, the process of removing the 1,000 senior employees from its payroll.  What manner of a society are we running when government agencies do not obey court orders?” the union wondered.

    It urged NIMC to submit itself to court processes that are on-going rather than dancing naked in the market place.

  • How to enhance workers’ productivity

    Many enterprenures limit their workers’ productivity enhancement to skill acquisition. But experts say it goes beyond that. They say more than 80 per cent of the problems associated with workers’ productivity reside in the work environment. They argue that work environment and other related issues affect employees’ performance and must be addressed to enhance productivity. TOBA AGBOOLA reports.

    Work environment, experts say, determines the level of profitability of an enterprise. Investigations have shown that factors such as lack of capacity building and adequate tools and hostile employment policies, as currently obtained in some organisations, are unfavorable to productivity. The thinking, therefore, is that government at the federal and state levels must explore ways of improving and updating infrastructural facilities in order to make the work environment more conducive for workers’ productivity.

    A human resource expert, Mr. Sunny Agboju, said adopting global standards in driving workers’ productivity always produce results, adding that workers and business organisations can do well to adopt such methods.

    He explained that a workplace, whether large or small, has to be driven by efficiency and achievement which manifest in tangible results for the organisation and is rewarding for the employee. He added that less productive inputs and lower efficiency levels are bound to affect the business and jeopardise its sustainability and survival.

    Agboju noted that although, employee’s productivity is a major concern for employers, but lower productivity cannot be blamed on the employee entirely. A lot of the problem, he said, has to do with the environment at the work place and the conditions, together with series of factors that define the work culture. He said employers have to implement widespread changes to improve the productivity of their workforce.

    According to him, since employee’s talent is a valuable asset, there is need for organisations to fully tap into it by keeping the employee motivated to perform and deliver results he is qualified capable of. “Employers may often believe that  once they have recruited the best talent in the field, the results will inevitably follow. Not necessarily, you have to look beneath the surface to see the environment in which the talent works in,” he said.

    Director-General, Institute of Professional Recruitment Consultants, Mr. Nick Odife, said while it is vital to manage the workforce, it is important to avoid micro management if workers’ productivity is to be enhanced.

    Citing an example of a large workforce such as those of the Federal Government, he said it is well known that a large pool of employees needs to be managed, provided direction and give assistance. Rather, they should be trusted and given freedom to operate  and  adopt measures which they think are best to deliver results.

    Odife said a conducive work environment stimulates workers’ creativity, adding that improvement in work environment, unlike a bad working condition, contributes to low productivity of employees. According to him, productivity requires that workers be encouraged, motivated, rewarded and recognised.

    “Encouraging the workers helps them move forward, do better, and make them feel happy. Innovative ways of motivating them spurs them even more.  For example, holidays or conferences paid for by the  company have been found to motivate employees immensely,” he said.

    As former President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian Institute of Training and Development (NITAD), Mr. Femi Kalojo, observed that dwindling productivity can begin to set in if the employee feels that his work is not appreciated in words or material terms.

    Such a worker, Kolajo said,  may gradually stop putting in his best since he may feel that others working less are given the same treatment. “So, he needs not work more,” he said.

    According to him, there is need to reach out to employees by taking them out since everyone loves to feel he has the ears of the management. He said the display of inter personal skills in which the boss appears humane rather than a larger than life, is one of the ways of enhancing workers’ productivity. He also pointed out that it is important for employers to demand realistic targets from their workers, noting that they need to set realistic goals that are within the limits of achievement.

    Team work, according to Kolajo, always helps in increasing workplace productivity since there is more input in the form of more ideas and minds at work. “Working alone is not always the best situation either, especially on the field. Successful team building and working together are bound to bring out the best in the employees, who may also compete with each other to ensure that the business is the winner,” Kaloja said.

    Similarly, job and organisationally related factors and employment policies must be looked into by employers for possible reviews in order to make them more favourable and thereby challenge workers to be more productive.

  • TUC urges strengthened pension administration

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria has said it will soon mobilise workers and pensioners to mount serious pressure on the government for prompt and adequate payment of pensions to retirees in the country.

    Its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, who noted this in his independence day message, said the pressure was necessary in order to strengthen pension administration in Nigeria. He lamented the increasing cases of embezzlement of pension funds with no one being brought to book to account for the criminal act.

    “Why a few individuals should be feeding fat on the misery of the poor and hapless pensioners remains a mystery to us. Pensioners’ woes are made worse by the virtual collapse of social services, which in effect has turned every household into a mini-government on its own.

    “Incidentally the pain is more excruciating because monetary contributions are deducted from workers’ salaries into the pension funds unlike what obtained in the past when government paid from its coffers. In this milieu, retirement aggregates to being sentenced to permanent poverty or even death, except in the case of the privileged few in the society. This ugly trend must stop,” he said.

  • SURE-P offers 279 graduates internship placements

    Out of 400  university graduates invited by the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) for screening and engagement, 279 have been sent to partnering firms in Cross River State for a year mentoring and entrepreneurship programme.

    The state Graduate Intership Scheme (GIS) project director, Mr Peter Papka, who spoke during the one-day Graduate Internship Fair  said new mentees would now be paid N30,000 every month as against  N25,000 previously paid.

    He added that each of the accredited firms for the mentorship programme will receive N25,000 as overhead cost outside other approved logistics.

    Papka said about 1000 graduates are expected to apply,  but that the scheme would have to attend to the few that promptly registered  online. While assuring that the government will ensure that the one-year internship in various firms is as conducive, Kapka cautioned that if mentoring firms give poor reports about them their pay would be made on pro-rata basis.

    “Such reports about bad conduct, lack of commitment and perennial absenteeism could be met with dismissal from the programme. Interns must be humble in order to achieve success or be retained for permanent employment at such firms,” he explained.

    Papka added that government has addressed complaints from partnering firms that they would need to interface with the potential interns before taking them on. “This is the reason we have brought the firms and graduates face to face so that they can make decision on the spot,” he said.

  • Union decries attempt to scrap TRCN

    Union decries attempt to scrap TRCN

    The  Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has rejected the alleged attempt by the Federal Government to scrap the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

    The National President, Comrade Michael Alogba Olukoya,  said the attempt to scrap the TRCN was a misguided policy summersault that will not only ruin  and ridicule the teaching profession, but also bastardise standards and quality of education in the country.

    The union said TRCN is the only body that regulates the practice of teaching in the country from the primary to the tertiary institutions, and wondered why the federal government wants to scrap the council.

    Olukoya, said TRCN, established since 1993 through the TRCN Act CAP T3, has achieved a lot for the educational sector through its laudable roles in the accreditation and re-accreditation procedures in the Colleges of Education, National Teachers Institute (NTI) and universities.

    According to him, TRCN Act was enacted after a nation-wide strike by the union on the need to regulate the teaching profession in the country.

    He said the union will not fail to return to the trenches as it did in 1992 and 1993 before the federal government established the council, if the alleged ongoing attempt by the federal government to scrap the council is not stopped forthwith.

    NUT urged the government to allow the TRCN to remain as government has done to other regulatory bodies in the country like the Libraries Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN), Nursing and Wid-wifery Council, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Medical Laboratories Science Council of Nigeria and Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN).