The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • Group urges govt to prioritise job creation

    The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy (CISLAC) has called on the Federal Government to make job creation a priority, adding that recent global ranking has Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest number of unemployment.

    CISLAC’s Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani in an interactive session with reporters in Lagos also called on governors and local government chairmen to take job creation serious.

    He said: “We are worried and therefore call on the Federal Government to take the issue of job creation a priority because the recent Global Index on Modern Slavery for 2013 showed that there are 701,032 estimated population in modern slavery in Nigeria and that the range of the estimate spans from 670,000 to 740,000 slaves in the country.”

    According to Rafsanjani, the report also showed that the scourge of human trafficking and forced prostitution have become a profitable enterprise as payment of slave wage has become ranpant.

    He said with the refusal of some employers of labour, especially some governors, to pay the N18,000 minimum wage, workers no longer own the means of production and are forced to sell their labour cheaply because of the quest to survive.

    CISLAC said the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour.

    It said: “Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa as shown in the report.

    “Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, either through ‘marriage’, unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked or lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or education.”

    President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar has also called for mass mobilisation of Africans to activate and set in motion the final process for the final independence for the Saharawi people, stressing that Western Sahara remains the only colony in Africa, not under the boots of a European power, but under the yoke of a sister African country, Morocco, itself an ex-colony.

  • TUC, FMBN partner on 3.5m housing scheme

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said it will partner and work with Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) on the National Housing Fund (NHF) for the provision of minimum of 3.5 million housing units of various ranges for workers in the next 15 years. This will also be in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The housing scheme has the necessary infractructure.

    In a communiqué signed by the TUC National President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, after its National Executive Council (NEC) in Kaduna, the Congress said good and affordable shelter is a critical issue of major interest to workers, adding that there was need to provide good shelter for every worker.

    The TUC decried the situation where many workers who religiously contributed to previous housing schemes of the Federal Government did not get the houses or any refund of their contributions. The Congress was particularly bitter by the fact that most records of such contributions were not properly kept by the project operators which include both the federal and state governments.

    TUC lamented the high-cost of the houses which made the houses to be essentially beyond the reach of the average worker.

    TUC said it will give the FMBN a trial period of one year to show substantial commitment to the project, threatening to back out of the project should the bank show any sign of unseriousness.

    “That the TUC and NLC must be fully carried along from start to finish of the project. That is, from conceptualisation to planning, costing, building supervision and allocation of the houses. To this end, the TUC insists that the labour centres must be duly represented in the boards of the FMBN, NHF and other relevant bodies involved in housing projects for workers.

    “FMBN must render monthly progress reports on the project to the two labour centres and ensure that all pre-existing, present and future records of NHF contributions made by workers are duly updated and made readily and easily accessible to the contributors,” the communique read in part.

    It added that full refund of contributions plus accrued interest thereon shall be immediately made to workers who were wrongfully denied the houses under previous schemes.

    The communique noted: “That relevant portions of the law be reviewed to compel employers to be more transparent and accountable to their workers on matters relating to remission of contributions to the NHF on behalf of the workers as and when due.”

  • Govt, private sector urged on employment

    The Senior Special Assistant to Presidency on Millennium Development Goals, Dr Precious Gbeneol, has appealed to the government and the private sector to fashion ways of creating employment to alleviate poverty.

    The Presidential aide, who spoke at the just-concluded World Poverty Day, noted that putting more people to work remains the most sustainable way to reduce poverty.

    He acknowledged the efforts of the Federal Government to create jobs through different initiatives, such as the Conditional Cash transfer (CCT), You- Win and other efforts aimed at boosting the productive capacity in the economy, especially urged support for the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “Though a lot has been achieved in the Information and Communications sector in the past two years, I will appeal to our youths to embrace agriculture as a means of viable employment by taking advantage of the various policies of the government,” said Gbeneol.

    She said Nigeria has made progress in eradicating poverty since it, alongside other developed countries, adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000.

    Specifically, she noted that Nigeria has partly achieved goal one of the MDGs, which deals with eradication of extreme poverty and hunger ahead of target date of 2015, by reducing the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 50 per cent.

  • Severance pay: Electricity workers vow to scuttle PHCN’s handover

    The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) has said it would scuttle any attempt by the Federal Government and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) to handover Power Holding Company of Nigeria’s (PHCN) facilities to any investor next week, if all labour issues were not settled in line with the agreement reached with the workers.

    SSAEAC, in a statement by its President, Comrade Bede Opara, urged the government to act fast, else no one should blame the unions for any action taken.

    The statement reads in part: “We state here that in our meeting with the Chairman, Implementation Committee, Permanent Secretary, Federal Minister of Power, two weeks ago, it was agreed that the payment of terminal benefits of PHCN staff entitlements would be concluded in two weeks.

    “However, we note that up to this moment, only a handful of payments have been made and what we heard or read in the newspapers is that the government intends to hand over the PHCN infrastructure to the investors on November 1, 2013.”

    According to him, this will negate and violate the understanding and agreement reached with the unions, adding that the workers would resist any move until all payments were concluded.

    He said: “In Benin, 50 per cent of the workers are not paid yet and in Jos 55 per cent are not paid yet while in Sapele, 77 per cent of the workers are not paid.

    “From available records, 60 per cent of the workers in Egbin are not paid, 60 per cent of workers in Ughelli are not paid, 67 per cent of the workers in Afam are not paid and 100 per cent of the workers in Kaduna, Abuja and Jebba are yet to collect their payment.

    “Also, none of the workers in transmission has been paid while their RSA entitlements not paid to anyone.”

    He said the government had made workers believe that the money needed was available while the leadership of labour also got the assurance of the Accountant-General of the Federation that money was available to be paid the workers.

  • ILO flays Fed Govt over minimum wage

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Committee of Expert on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) has criticised the Federal Government over what it called the poor implementation of the national minimum wage signed into law in 2011.

    The committee, which is the ILO supervisory body that addresses observations and directs request to member-states observed that the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2011 has revised the amount of fines for non-compliance with minimum wage, thereby allowing employers to pay whatever they desire to workers.

    The Committee, in a statement, however, noted that the implementation of the new minimum wage was facing significant difficulties in some states and public administrations.

    This, the Committee said, was due to the fact that there is no legislative provision for sanction to employers who violate the law.

    The ILO charged the Federal Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure effective compliance with the minimum wage law by employers it applies, both in the private and public sectors.

    The committee further directed the government to provide information on the application of the Minimum Wage Fixing-Machinery Convention, which Nigeria ratified, and, in particular, if such information was available, the number of workers remunerated at the minimum wage rate, statistical data showing the evolution of the minimum wage as compared to the average or median wage or the inflation rate.

    It also directed the labour ministry to provide labour inspection results showing the number of infringements of the wage law observed and the measures taken to bring them to an end.

    Corroborating the ILO’s view, General Secretary, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Mr Alade Lawal, confirmed that the implementation of the minimum wage for civil servants was done in bad faith, noting that workers have not benefited from the adjustment in the new wage.

    He said the argument by government that minimum wage is only for workers in the lower cadre does not hold water stating that services of workers in grade levels 1 and 2 (cleaners) had already being outsourced to private firms. He challenged government to tell Nigerians those that are benefiting from the minimum wage.

    “To us, it is an implementation done in bad faith. This is because the minimum salary in the civil service before the implementation of the minimum wage is N17, 034. What the Federal Government did was to adjust the amount to N18,000. At the end, the 0.01 per cent increment was used to adjust up to grade level 17. Their argument is that they do not want to create distortion in the system. Government has made a mess of the whole issue. We do not see this as implementation of minimum wage because the adjustment has to be scientific,” he said.

    The Belgore Committee set up by the Federal Government to negotiate a new national minimum wage for workers had, in a bid to ensure compliance by stakeholders, recommended penalties for any employer who failed to comply with the new National Minimum Wage Act when passed by the National Assembly.

  • NLC seeks support for Western Sahara

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said position of the Federal Government on Western Sahara among the comity of nations will be a major turning point for the liberation of Africa’s last colony.

    To his end, it is organising an African conference for solidarity with the people of Western Sahara the last colony in Africa, under the theme: Liberation Western Sahara, ending colonialism in Africa.

    In a statement by its Acting General Secretary, Comrade Chris Uyot, it said since the government has applauded Nigeria’s position on the status of Western Sahara, saying it will not fail in the tradition of supporting liberation struggles in Africa.

    “The NLC in keeping with the tradition of Africa as the centre-piece of Nigeria`s foreign policy objective, and in line with the congress’ tradition of supporting liberation struggles in Africa and across the world, is organising an African conference for solidarity with the people of Western Sahara the last colony in Africa.

    “Participants from all over the world, have confirmed their attendance among which are international scholars, international members of parliament, international civil society organisations and the international media houses,”he added.

    According to Uyot, the conflict started when Morocco invaded Western Sahara in October 1975, after the withdrawal of Spain colonial power, thereby preventing the Saharawi people from enjoying the legitimate right of self-determination guaranteed in all international laws and UN charter.

    “And since 1991, the Organisation of African Unity (AU now) and the UN reached a cease-fire and a peace settlement agreement in which a referendum should be organised to enable the Saharawi people decide their future, but Morocco backed by a UN security Council member France, blocked the path all along these years,” he said.

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘PHCN workers must embrace change’

    Workers of the privatised Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have been advised to embrace change in order to remain relevant in the sector, Executive Director (Market Operations) of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mrs. Vera Osuhor, has said.

    Mrs Osuhor, a former Managing Director of the Jos Electricity Distributing Company (JEDC), spoke at a send off party organised for her by the management and workers of JEDC.

    She said the reforms, which culminated in the sale of PHCN, would create excellent job and professional growth opportunities. She advised workers to maximise the advantages.

    “I will particularly advise you to clean up your CVs because the new owners would be poaching the best hands from everywhere.

    “There is no other personnel available to handle the jobs outside you; so you must be ready to work in a more challenging environments,’’ she said.

    Mrs Osuhor said engineers were best placed to explore the opportunities in the emerging power sector.

    “For engineers, life has just begun. The new owners will look for you as they compete for the best hands to offer the best services in the competitive power sector.

    “But I will advise that you also earn some more management skills and techniques because you will be expected to handle a lot of modern situations,’’ she said.

    She assured workers yet to be paid their severance packages to be patient as their accounts would be credited this week.

    “Payment has resumed again; the second and last phases will soon be completed,’’ she said.

    She identified security as her greatest challenge.

    “All the four states served by the JEDC – Plateau, Benue, Bauchi and Gombe – were crises-ridden.

    “ Providing electricity, repairing faults and collecting revenue in such war zones proved to be tough, but we were able to do much,’’ she said.

    Mrs Osuhor, who attributed her successes to team work, consistent training and effective monitoring, advised her successor to sustain the momentum.

    Mr Fidelis Obishai, who took over from Osuhor, commended her for her achievements, saying her elevation was well deserved.

  • ASUU: ERC welcomes NUT’s, NUPENG ’s solidarity strike threat

    The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has said it welcomes the decision of three trade unions – the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) – to embark on solidarity strike to compel the Federal Government to honour agreements signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    Its National Coordinator, Mr. Hassan Soweto said this in a statement. He added that the three unions should take this beyond the realm of threats and immediately name a day on which the solidarity strike would begin.

    He said the unions should begin active mobilisation of their rank and file, students who are frustrated at home and other concerned citizens to come out en-masse for mass protests and demonstrations on this day.

    He said:”We commend the three unions for taking this decision which we believe is in the best interest of the education sector and the nation at large. We agree that the ASUU strike has gone on for far too long and the plethora of strikes in the education sector are just too many. Slowly the entire public education sector is grinding to a halt.

    “The public polytechnics are equally closed and it will not be too long before the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) follow suit. The Colleges of Education lecturers held a seven-day warning strike. Indeed, the Academic Staff of Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) had to resume the strike they had suspended in July after three months, due to the insensitivity and insincerity of government to their demands and terms of the suspension of the last strike.”

    He said such a solidarity strike would be in the best interest of the education sector and the country at large.

    He continued: “The three unions come from key sectors of the nation’s economy. As such their decision to embark on solidarity strike if given full and practical effect could help pile pressure on the recalcitrant anti-poor Federal Government to meet demands of striking education unions so that public universities and polytechnics can be reopened for academic activities to resume.

    “This would also serve as an example for other unions and the entire labour movement to follow. We want to stress that the solidarity actions which the NUT, NUPENG and NUEE have envisioned should also cover and back the strikes of ASUP, COEASU and all other unions in the education sector that have any on-going dispute with the government over pay, conditions and education funding. This is the best way to ensure that all the outstanding disputes in the education sector are resolved and all public universities, polytechnics and colleges of educations are opened for full and undisrupted academic activities.”

    Soweto added that the ERC understands the position of Nigerians who believe that the entire sector will crumble if such a union as the NUT goes on strike.

     

     

     

  • Labour reiterates opposition to minimum wage decentralisation

    Labour leaders in the Southsouth geo-political zone have reiterated their opposition to the plan of the Federal Government to move minimum wage from the exlusive legislative list to concurrent legislative list.

    They also want the government to strengthen the electoral process to guarantee free and fair elections ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    Rising from a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt under the auspices of the Centre for Development and Support Initiative (CEDSI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the labour leaders said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be granted full autonomy, while the Justice Uwais report on electoral reforms should be adopted.

    They also said the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation should be granted full independence, while the issue of social security for Nigerians should be enshrined in the constitution.

    Others include: grant of full autonomy to local government councils in the country, removal of immunity for both the President and Governors in the country, while all legal institutions in the country should be strengthened to tackle corruption.

    The Country Director, CEDSI, Mrs Mina Ogbanga, said the meeting was held to reinforce the position of labour in the zone on some national issues, against the backdrop of the on-going constitutional amendment.

    Ogbanga who spoke through her Finance and Administrative Director, Mr Kuna Porokie, said the stand of labour on the whole issue was that of good governance.

    The Treasurer of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Rivers State chapter, Dr. Chris Mbata, said TUC would continue to advocate for true federalism in the country and declared that the position of labour on the issue of minimum wage, remained that there could not be an isolation in the implementation of true federalism.

    “If you want to remove minimum wage from the exclusive list, then implement true federalism in all sectors,” he said.

  • Union pickets firm over anti-workers’ activities

    Trade unions under the aegis of the Industrial Global Unions Federation (IGUF), have picketed Majestic Manufacturing Sack company over anti-workers’ activities as well as sensitised workers in Ikeja industrial areas on the need to work under decent conditions to commemorate the Seventh World Decent Work Day.

    The IGUF‘s unions, which consist of affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), picketed the company for over three hours and blocked major access roads in some firms in Lagos that are involved in anti-workers’ activities to warn the respective management to keep off from indecent workers condition.

    Speaking during the picketing, the Vice President of NLC, Comrade Isa Aremu said employers were reinventing colonial anti-labour practices.

    He said:”We call on the Federal Government to reverse the situation with a view to promoting sound labour practice”.

    The labour leaders however insisted that the sack manufacturing company had escaped picketing times without numbers, due to internal information received by the outsider, saying they were caught unawares this time..

    Also speaking, General-Secretary of Joint Action Front (JAF), Comrade Abiodun Aremu decried the degrading work environment in the country as unfortunate as the Government could not provide the enabling environment for companies to thrive

    He however urged the Federal government to use the decent day celebration to implement the agreements reached with labours in the country.