The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • ‘We’ve right to belong to trade union’

    The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreation Services Employees (AUPCTRE) has said it has the right to belong to a trade union as enshrined in Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    A statement issued by Comrade Ayeoribe Emmanuel, on behalf of AUPCTRE General Secretary, said the Constitution which guarantees freedom of association of citizens to belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of their interests, has duly clarified the membership crisis between the union and the management of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC).

    Ayeoribe said: “It is malicious and untrue the recent statement issued by SSASCGOC that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has warned the union against disrupting the activities of the management of SON, saying it was meant to discredit the ministry and misinformed the public.”

    He argued that its rights to exist as a trade union was further affirmed in the Trade Union’s (Amendment) ACT 2005 Section 2(4) which states: “Membership of a trade union by employees shall be voluntary and no employees shall be forced to join any trade union or be victimised for refusing to join or remain a member.”

    He, therefore, said the union found it strange that SSASCGOC, under whatever guise, could claim AUPCTRE is a junior staff union even as he claimed that AUPCTRE had been the sole trade union organising workers in SON ever since.

    He alleged that SSASCGOC had poached on its legitimate members in SON with the tacit connivance of some officials of SON, who were not satisfied with the upright posture of AUPCTRE leadership in SON.

    Comrade Ayeoribe added that the claim of SSASCGOC that AUPCTRE, in conjunction with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), was threatening to picket SON amounted to weeping more than the bereaved as SSASCGOC had never been known to be the Public Relations Officer of SON.

     

  • Yinusa is NECA’s new head

    •Olawale is D-G designate

    The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has named Dr. Mohammed Yinusa its new president.

    The change of guard took place at its 61st Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.

    In a statement by NECA Director-General, Mr Olusegun Oshinowo, said Yinusa, also the DN Tyre & Rubber Plc Managing Director, would head the association for two years.

    Also elected to run the affairs of the association with him were: Group Managing Director of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi (1st Vice President); Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nestle Nigeria Plc Mr. Mauricio Alarcon  (2nd Vice President) and Mr. Vassily Oye Barberopoulos of Metec West Africa Limited (Honourable Treasurer).

    Also, the association’s out-gone President, Mr. Larry Ettah, informed the meeting that Oshinowo had served the the notice of his retirement, after 19 years of meritorious and selfless service to the body. It will take effect from December 31, 2018. It would mark the end of another epoch in the evolution of the Association.

    However, NECA’s Director of Membership Services Mr. Timothy Olawale has been designated as Oshinowo’s successor effective from January 1st, 2019.

    Before his appointment as D-G Designate, Olawale has served as Executive Secretary, Hotel and Personal Services Association for five  years before joining NECA in April, 2011.

    The new officers were given the onerous responsibility of maintaining the enviable tradition of excellence, which the Association is known for.

    In his acceptance speech, Dr. Yinusa expressed appreciation to members of the association for the confidence reposed in them, promising that his team would do all  necessary to keep the tradition of the association and take it to greater height.

  • Union vows to resist Nigeria Air take-off over ex-Airways workers’ entitlements

    The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has vowed to resist the take-off of Nigeria Air, unless outstanding entitlements, totalling N45 billion are paid to workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways.

    On July 18, the Federal Government unveiled the name and logo of a new national carrier, Nigeria Air, at the Farnbourough Air Show in London.

    The airline is scheduled to start flight operations in December. NUATE General Secretary, Mr Olayinka Abioye, told reporters in Lagos that the union had set a July 31 deadline for the government to pay the entitlements or face the consequences.

    He said the union had run out of patience with the government’s inability to pay workers’ entitlements since the Nigeria Airways folded up 14 years ago.

    Abioye said NUATE would mobilise against government by the end of the month if the government failed to begin the disbursement of the money approved for the former airways workers by the Federal Executive Council more than 10 months ago.

    He said leaders of the union had met severally with the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, to deliberate on the plight of the former workers, who according to him, served the country meritoriously before the airline was liquidated in September 2004.

    The unionist, however, lauded the minister for what he described as the minister’s efforts to facilitate the payment of the entitlements, alleging that the minister became frustrated after meeting a brick wall in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

    He said: “So, the blame cannot be solely placed on Sirika but as the minister in charge of the sector, the onus lies on him to harken to the cries of the oppressed.

    “He should ensure that the workers are paid as he promised at our stakeholders meeting that immediately the National Assembly concludes with the document that they will be paid within the shortest possible time.

    “So, we are giving the government till the end of this month, irrespective of what the National Assembly is doing, to begin these payments so that these ex-workers will be given a new lease of life.

    “If nothing positively happens, the government will know that these people who are currently hopeless also have people who can speak on their behalf.”

    Abioye argued that in as much as it was commendable for the government to float a new national carrier, the government should settle its obligation to people who previously worked for their fatherland.

    He said over 2,000 former airways’ workers had died while waiting for the payment of their entitlements.

     

  • Dock workers give fresh ultimatum on Apapa roads

    •Group warns NPA against waiver to illegal ship-to-ship

    Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has issued a fresh 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to fix the deplorable access roads to Lagos seaports or face industrial action.

    Speaking with The Nation, the workers described the state of the road from Mile 2 to Apapa Port as horible.

    Its President, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, condemned the Federal Government for not making efforts to fix the road despite the communiqué signed on February 6, thiis year, where it vowed to shut down port operations if the government does not make the roads motorable.

    But the Federal Government in a swift response to avoid shutdown of the seaports pledged to effect the necessary repairs by the second quarter of the year, which it has failed to do.

    “The gridlock has become unbearable to everybody concerned. We the workers, business owners, residents among others can no longer cope with the situation.

    “The road, especially the Tin-Can end down to Otto Wharf has completely failed. You cannot quantify the cost and losses operators, road users; business owners are losing daily because of the situation.

    “To monetise this, you are talking about billions of naira losses beside the health implications to those being trapped daily in the gridlock.”

    Adeyanju, however, commended some private operators such as Messrs Dangote Nigeria Limited, Flour Mills Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for their efforts at fixing the Ijora/Apapa Wharf Road.

    He called on the government to direct the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to commence immediate payment of monthly pension to seafarers, referred to as ratings, who exited service in 1995 as a result of the liquidation of the defunct Nigeria National Shipping Line (NNSL).

    The union urged the government to resuscitate the NNSL to stimulate employment for the large number of unemployed seafarers, who do not have anywhere to practise after their training.

    Calling on the government to beef up security, ahead of the 2019 general elections, he urged the government to allow the Federal Ministry of Transportation, through the NPA, to appoint stevedore and dockworkers.

    In a related event, the union has cautioned the NPA against giving waivers to illegal ship-to-ship operators calling at the ports to avoid revenue leakage.

    MWUN President, NPA branch, Comrade Ifeanyi Mazeli, who spoke on the illegal operations at the ports, said the operation of Tropical West Africa Limited, which trainloads products in the midstream, would cause the country loss of huge revenue if not made to pay the proper accrued charges.

    According to him, there is an illegal ship-to-ship operations going on in West and Central Africa waters offshore, which creates a huge source of revenue leakage for the country.

    He said since there was no midstream refinery, Tropical West Africa would only get its products from STS.

    ”If Tropical West Africa involve in importation of product is bringing products abroad, it should pay in foreign currency. The union does not want issues that will distabilise the industry.

    ”We (maritime workers) knows that there is no refinery at the mainstream even if the company claims to be bring their product from Lagos Shore or Cotonu Shore.

    ”The workers know that every product that Tropical West Africa brings into the country comes from oversea,’’ he said.

    The union branch chairman said  the NPA management does not have the power to grant a waiver except through the Federal Government.

    He said the union would support directive of NPA management that STS operations in offshore waters and offshore Tropical West Africa vessels calling at the ports as foreign be invoiced appropriately.

     

  • NUPENG seeks completion of park in three months

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) has urged the Lagos State government to complete the Orile petroleum tanker parking bay within three months to ameliorate the suffering of the masses on Ikorodu-Apapa Road.

    The union said this in a statement by its General Secretary, Adamu Song.

    It also called for petroleum products pipelines repair and for strategic depots across the country to be adequately secured from vandals to reduce the concentration of loading petroleum products from Apapa area.

    The union expressed concern on the seeming intractable traffic gridlock at Apapa Port for years and severally offered options for solutions.

    “Since Apapa Port for now, serves as receiving port for more than 75 per cent of goods imports and road transportation is majorly the means of taking these goods into the hinter land, petroleum tankers and other articulated vehicles must necessarily come to Lagos. And in same manner, the vehicles must have a place to park.

    “We propose that the designated Orile petroleum tanker parking space should be urgently given to a very competent and reputable construction company to build within a timeline of 3 months. The access roads in and out of Apapa are long overdue for expansion and reconstruction, yet successive governments have been avoiding making the infrastructural investment that holds the key to the door of the nation’s wealth and prosperity,” said the union.

  • ‘600,000 jobs lost in fishing sector’

    No fewer than 600,000 indirect jobs have been lost in the fishing sector due to lack of regulation and sea robbers in the last two decades.

    Also, some facilities, equipment and infrastructure worth billions of dollars are rusting away at various fishing jetties due to the harsh operating environment and pirates on the waters.

    According to the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association (NITOA), the sub-sector, which had helped to create 6,000 direct and 600,000 indirect jobs in the past, has lost some of its industrial fishing trawlers to sea robbers and pirates.

    Within the last two decades, no fewer than 130 vessels had gone into extinction because of the activities of sea robbers and lack of foreign exchange to purchase new ones.

    Besides, fishing vessels from Europe, which are operating illegally on Nigerian coastal waters have edged the local companies out of jobs because of incessant poaching.

    The association noted that there were about 50 firms  owned by Nigerians in 1995, but that the firms had reduced to 12.

    It was learnt that out 250 industrial vessels, only 120 were  in operation due to the harsh situations that the industrial fishing operators had to contend with.

    The association noted that the killing and maiming of crew men had made the sector inaccessible to investors.

    Recently, former President of Nigerian Trawler owners Association (NITOA), Mrs Margaret Orakwusi, said the government hunt down those fishing illegally on Nigerian waters.

     

     

     

     

  • Govt threatens to sanction recruiters in oil sector

    The Federal Government has threatened to withdraw the licence of labour contractors that engage in anti-labour practices.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, gave the warning while hosting the newly- elected members of the National Administrative Council (NAC) of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in Abuja.

    He said the ministry was working on reforming the grant and renewal of licence to labour contractors to ensure adherence to expatriate quotas, and eschew unfair labour practices.

    Ngige insisted that the ministry was poised to redress the situation, saying the sanction against contractors that flout the law was in consonance with the Executive Order of the Federal Government to ensure that jobs that are reserved for  indigenes are not given to expatriates as well as protect indigenous products over foreign products.

    He said: “We have started reforming the process of granting and renewing Recruiters’ Licence and we will not grant or renew the license of recruiters who compromise by aiding and abetting “yellow dog” contracts, as any recruiters found abusing expatriate quotas will have his licence revoked or not renewed.”

    He said the ministry was making effort to close up identified gaps in the operational guidelines and labour laws in the oil and gas sector.

    The new President, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Williams Akporeha, decried unfair labour practices being perpetrated by labour contractors in the oil and gas sector.

    “It is so sad that in the oil and gas industry as it is in other sectors, our employees have become more or less slave labour with no hope for career growth and development. In almost all multinational oil companies in Nigeria, there are no more direct permanent jobs for the middle level to lower level cadre,”  he said.

    William said the union is committed to the promotion of industrial peace and harmony in the country.

    Recently, the oil workers under the auspices of NUPENGASSAN  declared that they could no longer guarantee industrial harmony in the sector if government fail to curb the abuses of workers’ rights by oil companies and labour recruiters.

    At the end of their joint NAC and National Executive Council (NEC) meeting under the umbrella of NUPENGASSAN, both NUPENG and PENGASSAN condemned the increasing impunities and anti labour tendencies of most indigenous and multinational oil companies in the oil and gas industry operating in the country.

    PENGASSAN President and Chairman of NUPENG Olabode Johnson regretted that the situation was compounded by the inability of the Federal Government to address the issue and the ministry’s helplessness.

    Olabode said: “The situation was compounded by the fact that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment that is supposed to be the watchdog in the areas of compliance with extant labour laws is unfortunately handicapped because of poor understanding of the contract processing and workings in the oil and gas industry.”

    He urged the Federal Government to establish a special body to mediate on the issues.

    “The Council-in-Session demands that a special mediation unit comprising experts from NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) Human Resources, NAPIMS (National Petroleum Investment Services) and other relevant units be set up to apprehend industrial relations/labour disputes and treat them with dispatch before escalating to level of any form of Industrial actions,” he said.

    While observing that it is inevitable to keep contract staffing out of the system, he called on the government and industry agencies to help the industry reverse back to the old system.

  • NLC, others laud Kaseem’s role in labour law

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has honoured the late Chief Gani Adetola-Kaseem (SAN), who died last January.

    It was an event tagged: “A Day of Tribute”which attracted an array of labour leaders, legal luminaries, Islamic clerics and worshippers.

    NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the late lawyer, contributed immensely to labour law, adding that he knew him for decades.

    Speaking on how he would confront the anti-corruption war, Wabba reiterated the Congress’s commitment to the fight against corruption in Nigeria and, by extension,  on the continent, describing the menace as a direct threat to its progress, stability, and well-being.

    He said: “We would want to identify and collaborate with the AU as it marks this year’s anti-corruption day.  In our view, corruption remains the most pressing governance and development challenges confronting Africa today, Nigeria inclusive.

    “Corruption in several ways continues to arrest growth and development, creating in the process situations of unacceptable unemployment, infrastructural decay, collapsed energy systems and capacities, massive production deficits and near absence of social justice.”

    He said the NLC would not rest on its oars in confronting the menace which he said has robbed African citizens the right to basic infrastructure, employment and other socio-economic securities in the continent, adding that corruption is a monster that must be confronted head-long if Africa is to make any headway or be taken seriously in the comity of nations.

    “For us this fight, however, must go beyond the symbolism of marking the day to a demonstrable commitment by leaders of African countries and other office holders that corruption is a reprehensible crime that should be stamped out,” he  noted.

    Prof. Hakeem Olaniyan, the lead speaker, who spoke on the topic, “The development of the Nigerian Labour Jurisprudence: The role of Chief Gani Adetola-Kaseem, SAN (1948-2018” described the late SAN as a good professional who contributed to Nigerian law and jurisprudence in many of the cases he handled.

    The event was chaired by the President of the National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, while panellists were drawn from the Nigeria Labour Congress, National Industrial Court, Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Nigerian Bar Association, and the Joint Health Sector Unions.

     

    Adetola-Kaseem, who died at the age of 69, was commended  by virtually all the panellists that graced the occasion for leaving an outstanding legacy in the landmark case of  Amasa Firdaus, the Law graduate who sparked controversy after challenging the restriction on the use of hijab during call-to-bar ceremony, as she has eventually been called to bar few days ago.

     

     

  • Cancellation of promotion interview irks civil servants

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has flayed the Federal Government over the cancellation of promotion interview organised by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) for senior workers in the directorate cadre in Abuja.

    The association demanded that the officers affected should be adequately compensated to avert industrial crisis.

    They lamented that senior civil servants in the directorate cadre were summoned from various parts of the country for promotion examination fixed for June 25 and 28 in Abuja, only for the examination to be cancelled when they had completed accreditation.

    The association’s General Secretary, Bashir Lawal, urged the FCSC and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) to take steps to stop such untidy practices or face the wrath of trade unions.

    “It is indeed sad that senior civil servants were made to risk their lives, paid their transport and accommodation in Abuja, arrived at the venue of the promotion examination only for the exercise to be cancelled.

    “This type of action tends to create the impression in the minds of the general public that some top government official are sadists who take delight in inflicting sorrow on innocent civil servants,” the union stated.

    They urged the FCSC and the HCSF to pay the officers concerned double their Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) for the trauma and anxiety caused them, adding that the FCSC should henceforth stop the practice of summoning civil servants to Abuja for promotion examination only for the exercise to be rescheduled.

    “This almost irrational decision by the FCSC to be postponing promotion interviews is becoming standard practice and should be stopped,” the union said.

  • ‘Invest in manpower’

    Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC) President, Comrade Mohammed Attahiru Yunusa, has urged the government to invest in manpower development to improve service delivery.

    Speaking at the National Administrative Council and Central Working Committee meeting in Kaduna, Yunusa said the government should know that workers are the greatest asset of any organisation and not the machinery being imported.

    He lamented that in Africa, employers don’t take care of their workers, but invested hugely in infrastructure, advising the government to take care of its human resource through trainings and good remunerations for the overall development of the nation.

    He said the union faced the challenges of insecurity, lack of payment for overtime, leave allowances, and non-payment of first 28 days allowance and salaries in some places of work.

    He said the association enjoined workers to be productive  and believed in the rule of law, social partnership and dialogue to resolve issues and was not considering strike action.