The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • ‘Our confidence in this govt is waning’

    ‘Our confidence in this govt is waning’

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said that the confidence labour has in the present administration when it came to power in 2015 is gradually waning, as all efforts geared towards fighting corruption have become a mirage.

    In a press statement signed by its National President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, the labour leaders said Nigeria’s case has become that of “one-day one-trouble-kind of.”

    “Only recently some ministers made case for ‘No Work No Pay’ doctrine. Their argument was that they want to check the public service workers in the country. Just imagine, how do you tell a worker that has not been paid for six months to continue to borrow to transport himself or herself to job? How do you explain it that a country that is broke still pays twitter lawmakers over N29 million on a monthly basis. This is inhuman, wicked, derogatory and devilish,” they said.

    The union said that one way poverty can be addressed is when the wage of workers is increased even as it lamented that the last wage increase was in 2011.

    “Though due for review but some forces who take delight in using our children as political thugs have refused. They want the status-quo to remain- (master-servant relationship),” the union said.

    On bail out funds, TUC praised President Muhammadu Buhari for telling governors the gospel truth on how he feels about their failure to pay salaries and pensions despite the interventions of the Federal Government.

    The congress carpeted some state governors for asking for the release of 50 per cent of the Paris Club loan refund, even when they cannot account for the tranches already released to them.

  • NECA sues Reps to court for frequent summon of CEOs

    NECA sues Reps to court for frequent summon of CEOs

    Employers are not happy that company chiefs are being summoned frequently by lawmakers.

    Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has sued the House of Representatives to court over the matter.

    According to the group, the actions of the lawmakers have been undermining business sustainability and growth.

    NECA is specifically praying the court to interpret Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution, which the lawmakers rely on to summon the CEOs in the name of oversight functions.

    At a briefing in Lagos, its Director-General, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, accused members of the House, especially its committees, of disregarding court processes.

    He contended that the continued disregard of court processes and persistent summons of chief executives of organised businesses to National Assembly was a disregard of the rule of law, and legislative rascality.

    Oshinowo singled out the House of Representatives Committees on Labour, Employment & Productivity; Steel; Telecommunications; Public Safety and National Security; Ad-Hoc  Committee  on  the   Abuse  of  Pioneer  Status   by  Companies and Ad-Hoc Committee Investigating Operational Activities of Telecommunications Equipment and Service Companies/Vendors in Nigeria, as the most guilty.

    He lamented that petitions to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, over the activities of the committees had not been addressed till date, noting that to worsen the situation, members of the committees, instead of attending to CEOs directly, chose always to act through consultants.

    He said:  “All efforts at exploring the avenue of dialogue, advocacy and lobbying as evidenced through our several correspondences to the House and submissions at hearings and visits to the National Assembly seem to have been ineffective in protecting the economic rights and interest of businesses in this environment.”

    Oshinowo said the legislators only listen to themselves and have become law unto themselves. “Therefore, we are left with no option but to seek judicial solace to protect enterprise rights and provide some reliefs to businesses by staving off  the negative attitude of the legislators.

    “Despite on-going court processes, organised businesses are still being inundated with torrents of summons/invitations and requests from the House of Representatives. Recently, the afore-mentioned committees have been very active in their disregard of court processes.

    “In one instance, a company is currently being hounded with invitations from about seven committees of the House of Representatives on issues they could ordinarily have sorted out with regulatory institutions that supervise activities in that sector of the economy,” he said.

    Oshinowo said NECA expects speaker of the House of Representatives, who is a lawyer himself, and by extension, all the committees and adhoc committees within the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the National Assembly, among others, who are all restrained by the sub-judice status of this case to exercise caution until the determination of the matter.

    Oshinowo said: “We are even taken aback by the House Committees’ non respect for its own Standing Order IX Rule 5 on rules of debate, which provides as follows: “Reference shall not be made to any matter on which a judicial decision is pending, in such a way as might in the speaker’s opinion prejudice the interest of parties thereto”

  • PENGASSAN rejects plan to tax pension, terminal benefits

    PENGASSAN rejects plan to tax pension, terminal benefits

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has rejected the plan by governments at the federal and state levels to tax pensions, gratuities and terminal benefits of workers.

    The senior staff trade union vowed to resist the implementation of the plan, which it claimed was to further impoverish workers.

    In a communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, PENGASSAN condemned the unilateral decision by the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) and state Internal Revenue Services to act outside the provisions of the Federal Tax Laws, thereby infringing on the rights of workers.

    PENGASSAN, in the communique signed by its President, Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson, and the General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Ighotemu Okugbawa, condemned the plan by governments, especially the Lagos State Government and its agent, the Lagos State Inland Revenue Service (LIRS), to tax workers’ gratuities and terminal benefits.

    “The NEC-in-Session calls on all workers, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and other labour unions to reject and resist the planned taxation of pensions, gratuities and terminal benefits.

    “The NEC-in-Session notes that the planned taxation will further deplete workers’ final entitlements and increase poverty in the country. This can also shorten the life span of workers in the country,” the communiqué said.

    The oil workers association also condemned the actions of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) and some state Boards of Internal Revenue for illegally harassing employers from processing additional pension and life insurance tax reliefs by workers as enshrined in the law.

    “The NEC-in-Session therefore, states that the law on Personal Income Tax can only be amended by an Act of the National Assembly or clarification via interpretation by the Judiciary, and it would resist the self-help approach being adopted by the tax bodies,” it stated.

  • Labour, civil society seek change in governance

    The organised labour and members of civil societies have advocated change, peaceful revolutions and governance overhaul.

    According to the groups, which cut across human rights activists, community-based organisations, students, academics, doctors, internationalists and artisans, these would provide solution to Nigeria’s problems.

    They noted that the wrong use of the country’s resources had inflicted hardship on the masses, adding that 57 years after independence, there were no good roads, healthcare structures, electricity, employment, and security. They stated that the country was ridden with economic crises.

    Speaking at the National Discourse titled: “Economic crises and ethnic secession, restructuring or system change,” organised by the Joint Front Action (JFA), at the NLC Lagos secretariat in Yaba, Lagos, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Lagos State University (LASU) Chairman Isaac Oyewumi said labour needed to be prepared if it was truly in need of change.

    He said: “We need to sit down and ask ourselves questions and determine way forward on how to solve our problems. What we need is continuous non-violence agitation until we achieve our dream.

    ”In terms of mismanagement of our resources, it is the common man that suffers the hardship. The ordinary man on the street, workers, community members, artisans, among others, need to feel the impact of the government. Today, there is no steady electricity supply in the country and many other problems; so, I believe it is time for us to take our destiny in our hands.”

    Mr. Ikechukwu Ikeji of the Constitutional Right and Peoples Development Advocacy Initiative (CRAI) said what Nigerians needed was change and not restructuring, lamenting that because there were no healthcare structures, political leaders travelled abroad for medication.

    He called for a new code of conduct for elected officials, where they would be compelled to patronise local services and public utilities, such as medical and educational facilities, among others, instead of going abroad.

    “We call for a new law to make it compulsory for every public officer, elected or appointed, to use hospitals in Nigeria for all ailments and to send their children and wards to only Nigerian schools.”

    Ikeji noted that there was high level corruption in Nigeria among the so-called cabals, who have been sharing, the collective patrimony and commonwealth among themselves.

    “We therefore, insist on equitable distribution of same among Nigerians,” he said.

    Ikeji stated that the 1999 Constitution, even as amended, was fraught with irregularities.

    “We insist that any genuine change in Nigeria will have to start from correcting the fraud inherent in the constitution, such as not being autochthonous and lacking the imprimatur of the people it seems to constitute. We call for a pure and adulterated people constitution that will be subject to a genuine process of referendum”, he said.

  • SMEDAN trains MSMEs officers

    SMEDAN trains MSMEs officers

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) is training its Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises  (MSME) officers for the implementation of its One Local Government One Product (OLOP) Programme.

    Declaring the event open in Kaduna, its Director-General, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, said the agency was re-launching the OLOP programme in line with the vision of the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERPG).

    He said OLOP is a rural economy revitalisation plan built around the well-known drivers of its globally-renowned equivalent – One Village One Product – which originated from Japan.

    Radda told the desk officers that the One Local Government One Product, is a process  in which each local government identifies a valuable local resource in which it has competitive and comparative advantage to promote to the rest of the country through its value-addition, sales and marketing activities.

    He said the programme was focused on identifying local distinctiveness, value-addition, and branding and market access.

    He reiterated that  OLOP  would enable the agency achieve the goal of  identifying and galvanising  rural communities around their natural endowment for wealth creation.

    OLOP would also enhance technical, technological and business management skills of MSMEs (especially existing ones) as basis for expanding business opportunities of local communities and it will  facilitate emergence of value-added products, with emphasis on quality control, packaging and branding, he aded.

    Radda also pointed out that senatorial districts would be used as  the platform for the selection of the products, as the agency would be anticipating 109 products from the senatorial districts.

  • NLC to workers: vote out governors owing salaries

    NLC to workers: vote out governors owing salaries

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged workers to vote out governors who are owing salaries.  It has advised its members to get their voters’ cards ready for the next election.

    Its President, Ayuba Wabba, who was in Benue State to support the workers in their battle against unpaid wages, said workers would be taking their destiny in their hands, if they registered and voted wisely.

    He urged the workers and their families to ensure that they obtained voters’ registration cards.

    He said most governors believed that workers did not vote, and that this explained the shabby treatment meted out to them.

    Wabba told Benue workers that experience had shown that governments were not ready to pay salaries and pensions without a fight, adding that it was up to them to do the needful to get their salaries and pensions regularly.

    A delegation led by Wabba, was in Makurdi, the Benue State Capital, in solidarity with the workers at the end of their one week warning strike against non-payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities.

    The NLC chair described Benue, with a record of seven months of non-payment of salaries in ministries and parastatals, 11 months in  local governments and teaching institutions, and 13 months of pension arrears, as the worst in the country.

    Wabba further said Congress could no longer fold its arms while the workers were being maltreated.

    He condemned the refusal of the the government to pay the workers after collecting bail-out funds.

    The labour leader said though  some states had met salary and pension obligations to their workers and pensioners, the Benue government had been indifferent.

    Wabba said: “The wilful act of the government was illegal as it violated all known rules of employment, callous, morally reprehensible and a betrayal of the trust of workers and pensioners who had voted the government into office.

    “In the light of the pains and indescribable suffering brought upon the workers, pensioners and their families, congress had no hesitation in giving full support to any lawful action including a full strike action, in pursuit of their salaries, pensions and gratuities.”

    He urged the workers and pensioners to remain united and not allow officials of the government or anyone to distract them from their objectives.

    Wabba said the NLC resolved that it would take steps to mobilise all workers for effective action to defend their interests.

  • NECA decries incessant summons by lawmakers

    NECA decries incessant summons by lawmakers

    The Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) is displeased with the summons of chief executives of businesses by the National Assembly.

    Specifically, it criticised a recent letter and advertorial by the House of Representatives, which requested information on product contents from some of its member-companies, and  invited the companies’ heads to appear before the Investigative Committee headed by the House Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila.

    NECA Director-General Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo noted: “While we have no issues against companies providing basic information to the legislators to help them in their investigative activities, we do not agree with the frequent summons by the various committees to appear before them. This is a fundamental matter in an on-going court case SC/734/2017 against the Speaker and the House, which is presently at the Supreme court.

    “The House is very well aware of this position.

    ‘’Respondents in the case include Speaker of the House of Representatives (and by extension all the Committees and Ad-Hoc Committees within the House of Representatives) and the Clerk of the National Assembly, among others. In effect, they are all restrained by the sub-judice status of this case.”

    Oshinowo further lamented the increased perception of Nigeria as an unfriendly place to do business due to the extra-regulatory and over-reaching activities of lawmakers.

    He advised that the legislative arm of the government should cooperate with the executive to realise the latter’s objective on the Ease of Doing Business initiative, under the auspices of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

    He said NECA believed in dialogue, adding that it was the best way to move forward.

  • Unions canvass decent work conditions for workers

    Unions canvass decent work conditions for workers

    Organised Labour, last week, joined other workers across the globe to celebrate this year’s World Day for Decent Work (WDDW).

    For over a decade, October 7 has been observed annually as a day to champion the cause of ending workers’ enslavement through casualisation.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) picketed many companies, which allegedly have casual workers, and banned their workers from joining unions of their choice.

    Among those affected were telecommunications giant MTN, CHI Nigeria Limited, Orange Group, Namoh Nigeria Limited, Consolidated Business Holdings, and Abuja Environmental Protection Board.

    NLC President AyubaWabba said the picketing was necessary as the companies, despite repeated warnings and visitations by labour leadership, refused to stop their anti-workers’ activities.

    The companies’picketing, he said, would be done in batches and a continuous exercise until employers stopped the violation of workers’ right and casualisation.

    Chairman, NLC Committee on Casualisation, Solomon Adelegan, who is also the union’s Vice President,  led the picketers. According to him, only the government’s political will can stop workers’ abuse in the country.

    He said:“Political will by the government through laws made by the National Assembly and passed by the Presidency will put a stop to casualisation of Nigerian workers by employers, as any of such laws can be enforced by the law enforcement agencies.”

    Adelegan said this year’s event marked the 10th anniversary of the WDDW, and the second edition to be celebrated under the Ayuba Wabba- led NLC, adding that labour would ensure that the evils of casualisation were tackled.

    To him, picketing is inevitable as employers engage in casualisation, contrary to the laws on employment, international labour and human rights conventions, and the basic principles of decent work signed by member nations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); and, particularly, UN Sustainable Development Goals on the right and welfare of workers.

    Adelegan said the NLC demands were for employers to stop workers’ casualisation, pay them living wages, and allow them to form and belong to trade unions of their choice in compliance with the labour laws and the ILO Convention 87.

    Others are: “Integrate these workers and their unions in your internal collective bargaining machinery in all work places in compliance with ILO Convention 98 and respect of all national laws and international  labour conventions on the rights of workers.”

    The picketing in Lagos was quite successful as the management of the two companies visited,  Orange Group and Consolidated Holdings, signed agreements with the NLC to allow workers in their organisations to belong to union.

     

    Minimum Wage

    The unions under the auspices of IndustriALL Global, however, dreaw awareness to workers’ plights as they marched across Lagos with placards, and called on the two labour centres, the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to issue ultimatum to the Federal Government on the new minimum wage.

    The IndustriALL Global Union members said the ultimatum should be given to the government over the protracted new minimum wage issue, noting that the government must be given a time frame to either inaugurate a minimum wage committee or face industrial unrest.

    Vice Chairman of the global body, Mr. IssaAremu, said workers could not scontinue to work under a precarious wage, while the government continued to delay on a new minimum wage after the expiration of the N18,000 minimum wage in 2015.

    He said: “We have to call on all the labour centres in the country to give the Federal Government an ultimatum on the new minimum wage. The labour centres should give the government a time frame to immediately constitute and inaugurate a new minimum wage committee to negotiate a new minimum wage failing which we will withdraw our services.

    “We cannot continue to work under this precarious pay, under this high cost of living and hardship. It is our right to have a new minimum wage because the N18, 000 minimum, besides the fact that its life span has elapsed since 2015, the present socio-economic situation makes it imperative for us to have a new minimum wage.”

    Aremu, who is also the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), lamented the working conditions of workers across the country, and called on them to unite and fight against unfavourable working environment.

    He said the ILO set aside October 7 every year for workers to create awareness on their plight, adding that IndustriALL Global Union started marking the event five years ago.

    In his contribution, Chairman of the Nigeria National Council of IndustriALL Global Union, Igwe Achese, represented by the council secretary, Mr. Ismail Bello, said: “It is a day of action; a day to mobilise workers to organise and fight for change.  It is a day to engage employers-private or public, to respect the law and workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

    He listed affiliates of Industriall Global Union in Nigeria to include the NUTGTWN; Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG); National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and National Union of Chemical Footwear and Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE).

    Others are Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN); Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN) and Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN).

     

    Unemployment

    The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), at its programme to mark the day, however, said employers hide under the high rate of unemployment in the country to casualise workers.

    Its President, Oyinkan Olasanoye, said organised labour was, however, insisting that there must be a condition of service that would bring dignity into the contract staff service and into whatever role they occupy.

    Olasanoye, while speaking on the theme:“End corporate greed: The world needs a pay rise”, lamented that the wage difference between full -time staff and casual workers was very high.

    She added: “But instead of saying they shouldn’t work at all as contract workers, we are saying, the remuneration they are being paid should be something that shows work done with decency.

    “We have seen a lot of workers that have been on the same level for 10 years because they are contract staff. We are working with the house committee of the House of Representatives and labour that there should be a collective agreement for these contract workers.”

    Trade Union Congress (TUC) Secretary General Musa Lawal said ending corporate greed was ending capitalism, which to him is impossible to do. The problem cannot be solved until all workers came together to face the issue, he said.

    The guest speaker, Dr. Francis Anyim, said only a pay rise could stop greed in the workplace. He called for the urgent increase in the wages of workers, saying: “There is an urgent need to address the wage issue, if it is not  listed in the 2018 budget under consideration, there would be industrial actions by the workers as witnessed this year.”

    He joined ASSBIFI  President to call on workers to register to participate in the coming elections to better their lot.

  • Retirees urge govt to pay 33% pension arrears

    Retirees urge govt to pay 33% pension arrears

    The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the payment of 33 per cent arrears of pension increase to pensioners, who retired from the Nigeria Police and other arms of the public service, to make life better and comfortable for them.

    Its President, Dr. Abel Afolayan, who made the appeal in an interview with The Nation in Abuja, urged the government to make provision for the payment of gratuity to pensioners, who retired from service under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) similar to what was obtainable under the Defined Benefit  Scheme (DBS).

    Expressing optimism that the ongoing verification by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) will put an end to incessant verification of pensioners, Afolayan said the government owed 18 months arrears of the 33 per cent to civil service pensioners and 30 months to police and parastatal pensioners.

    He said: “With all the verification exercises, we don’t envisage a situation where there will be incessant verification again once they have a data base of pensioners.

    “We are pleading with the government to expedite action in the payment of 33 per cent arrears of pension increase of 18 months to civil service pensioners and 30 months to police and parastatal pensioners so that the pensioners from there can be comfortable.”

    On pensioners under the CPS, Afolayan said “those who retired under the Contributory Pension Scheme are in two categories. Those who served partly under the DBS and partly under the CPS. The years they served under the DBS is supposed to be taken care of by the federal government.

    Afolayan said: “But that money is not being made available and so, it is creating a lot of problem. That money is running into several billions and so, the Federal Government has agreed to be paying five per cent of monthly salary bill to the Central Bank that offset that pension benefit.

    “The second category are those who spend their entire service years under the CPS. Those one are not supposed to have problem because the employers are supposed to deduct certain percentages from their monthly salary and match it with their contribution.

    “It is eight per cent from your salary and ten per cent from the employer. Once there is no problem with that payment, once you retire,you will start getting your entitlement.

    “Under the DBS, you are paid a bulk sum as gratuity. We are pleading that those under the CPS should also be paid a bulk sum as gratuity by their employers.”

  • $25b contracts: PENGASSAN vows to resist interference in NNPC administration

    $25b contracts: PENGASSAN vows to resist interference in NNPC administration

    Oil workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have vowed to resist any attempt by officials not designated for the administration of the  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to meddle in the affairs of the association.

    The workers warned that they would stop non-executive officials from using top management positions in the NNPC to settle cronies at the detriment of dedicated members of the staff.

    In a statement by the Secretary of the Group Executive Council (GEC) of PENGASSAN in NNPC, Comrade Sulaiman Sulaiman, they noted that the recent re-organisation in the NNPC was in good faith and it encouraged internal growth.

    They said: “We are convinced that the recent re-organisation in NNPC is in good faith and in tandem with our call to allow internal growth in the system through hard work and positive appraisals.

    “We shall continue to reject and vehemently resist attempts in meddling in the day-to-day running of the organisation by non-executive officials of the Corporation. We will no longer allow our institution to be an avenue to settle friends and cohorts into management positions of NNPC at the detriment of dedicated staff with all the requisite qualifications within the system.

    “Problems will continue to occur as long as the Chairman of the Board continues to meddle into the day-to-day running of the organisation, which is a management role. Any attempt to allow this happen will spell doom for the country and create a window for abuse.”

    The senior staff said good practice in corporate governance required absolute segregation of oversight role from the management’s day-to-day functions.

    They asked: “Why should a board chairman seek to meddle in internal organisational adjustment?” They noted that the chairman should focus on performance appraisal of the Board’s committees and its members, rather than wanting to dictate appointments or award contracts in NNPC.

    The workers, contrary to claim in the said letter of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to the President, members of staff are no longer afraid to talk or express their opinion, especially with the domestication of the whistle blowing policy and re-constitution and launch of the Anti-Corruption Committee by the GMD.