The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Comrade Bobboi Kaigama

  • TUC: N30, 000 minimum wage eroded by inflation

    Inflation has seriously affected the purchasing power of the N30, 000 National Minimum Wage recently approved by the Senate, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said.

    Speaking with The Nation, TUC President Comrade Bobboi Kaigama said though the organised labour appreciates the approval of the new wage, the prices of commodities have gone up even when employers have yet to commence payment of the new wage.

    He said: “The N30, 000 monthly national minimum wage that we are even asking for, to a family of six actually amounts to less than N50 per meal per person. It is exclusive of utility bills, and school fees, among others.

    “Given our extended family system as Africans, we are also expected to, once in a while, extend hands of fellowship to parents, in-laws, relations, and friends who have lost their jobs, brothers and people of the same faith.”

    Kaigama expressed gratitude to some lawmakers, who he said kept to their promise to give the wage bill supersonic attention whenever it was brought before them.

    “To us, it means we still have men and women with milk of kindness left in them,” he said

    He, however, called on the Ninth Assembly and well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on governors to pay workers their salaries and pension as and when due to avoid crisis in the industrial sector, adding that workers have endured enough.

    “We warned those who feel they cannot pay the new wage to stay away from politics. And for those claiming that it is only when Value Added Tax (VAT) is increased that the government can pay, we advise them to drop such evil counsel,” Kaigama said.

    The TUC president commended the Federal Government, the lawmakers and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for seeing reason with the workers.

  • Minimum wage: Organised Labour rejects FG’s technical committee

    Labour leaders have rejected plans by the Federal Government to set up another high-powered technical committee on the new national minimum wage.

    Leaders of the union comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC) stated this in a communiqué jointly signed at the end of a national leadership meeting of organised labour in Nigeria.

    They dismissed the establishment of another committee in Lagos on Thursday as diversionary and delay tactics.

    They lamented almost two months after submission of the report by the national minimum wage tripartite committee, which included a draft bill, no bill has been submitted to the National Assembly for passage into law.

    NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said: “As far as we are concerned, all the issue has been addressed by the Tripartite Committee.

    “This one is a delay tactic by the Federal Government and it will not work”.

    ULC President Comrade Joe Ajaero said it is not the duty of the Federal Government to know how the states or private sector will implement the minimum wage.

    “Federal Government should allow the labour union in each state to discuss with their states government on how to start the implementation,” Ajaero said.

    They explained the Federal Government was expected to transmit the new national minimum wage bill to the national Assembly on or before the 31st of December 2018.

    They noted the Federal Government was planning to set up a high-powered technical committee, which they considered alien to the tripartite process and ILO convention on national minimum wage setting mechanism.

    They urged workers to be vigilant and prepared to campaign and vote against candidates and political parties not supportive of implementations of the new national minimum wage.

    TUC’s President Comrade Bobboi Kaigama said if government fails to transmit the bill to the National Assembly for implementation on or before 31st of December, labour will re-open the suspended strike.

    “Organised Labour will not guarantee industrial peace and harmony if after the 31st of December 2018, the draft bill is not transmitted to the national assembly,” he said.

     

  • Buhari’s economic recovery plan an affront on constitution – Don

    Buhari’s economic recovery plan an affront on constitution – Don

    A university Don and member of the NLC/ASUU Think-Tank on the economy, Prof. Omotoye Olorode Saturday picked holes in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari saying the policy was subversive and an affront on section II of the Nigerian constitution.

    Speaking at the 2017 Pre- May Day Lecture entitled “Labour Relations in Economic Recession: As Appraisal” jointly organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Prof. Olorode said the document was an extension of the assault formally launched on the nation under military dictatorship in the mid-1980s.

    According to him, it is the same policies that have being imposed on the country by neoliberal forces that were replicated in the document which was launched with fanfare by the President, insisting that the document cannot drive the nation’s economic recovery plan.

    He said “from President Shehu Shagari’s austerity measures of the early 1980s to SAP, to vision 2010, 2020 and 20-2020 to today’s 2017 ERGP, the commitment of the ruling class has been to neoliberalism-private sector led economy characterized below and enforced overtime by the same personnel.”

    Citing part of the ERGP document, he said the document was articulated with the understanding that the role of government in the 21st century must evolve from that if being an omnibus provider of citizens’ needs into a force for eliminating the bottlenecks that impede innovations and market based solution.

    Prof, Olorode said the ERGP document was “an unequivocal re-statement of market fundamentalist assault against chapter II of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, an assault formally launched under military dictatorship in the mid-1980s.

    “Nothing in the 2016 Strategic Implementation Plan to which the ERGP referred is new. Consequently, we must reiterate a segment of NLC policy document to show that the class interests of the succession of Nigeria’s ruling class regimes is antagonistic to that if the labouring people.

    “Given the continued neglect of education through underfunding and privatization, the claim of ERGP that the plan recognizes the need to leverage Science, Technology and Innovation and build a knowledge based economy is not just only sheer sloganeering, it is a cruel joke.

    “In any case, there is already a significant quantum of STI on ground in Nigeria to enable us address Nigeria’s most urgent needs in food production, safe and accessible drinking water, transpiration, energy, security, General education, housing, healthcare delivery and amelioration of environmental degradation.

    “It is this neoliberal programmes that the Nigeria ruling class is still peddling with the ERGP and the Nigeria Labour Congress and the entire Labour movement in Nigeria and at the global levels need to combatant in order to outlaw capitalist recession in Nigeria and throughout the world.”

    He insisted that the current war against corruption would not make any meaningful impact “as long as the Nigerian ruling class remains committed to private accumulation under new-liberal ideology which typically locates countries like Nigeria at the periphery of global capitalism.”

    In his remarks, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba lamented various government policies that has continued to impoverish the Nigerian people, adding that government policies has consistently favored employers against the workers and the Nigerian people.

    Wabba said “Today is a day of reflection and a day that we must recognize that no employer of Labour will be so generous to award us what we are demanding for. We have to get it through struggle and this is what we need to reflect on.

    “No politician seek office to actually better the lot of the people because they see politics as an investment. So is the issue of businesses around the world which is to make profit and so, we must continue as watchdog of the society continue to represent the interest of our members and the larger people.

    “No policy will be made that will serve our interest. That is why our duty has a,ways been policy contestation. Policies must be made to address our developmental challenges and address issues of inequality which has continued to be on the increase despite the fact that in the last one decade, global wealth has continue to increase. We create the wealth of every society, but what has been our bargain.

    “Poverty among working class has continued to increase. This year’s May Day calls for us to rededicate ourselves both as members and leaders to our collective struggle and continue to agitate for what is right to our society. There is no way the issue for insecurity will be addressed without addressing the twin issue from poverty and unemployment.”

    Wabba lashed out at former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar for opposing the idea of having uniform salary for workers across the country, adding that if political office holders can earn the same salaries irrespective of the resources available in their states, there was no reason why workers should not earn the same salaries across the country.

    He said: “in any case, we are not even canvassing for the same salary structure. We are talking of minimum and even in the most capitalist societies, you have minimum which is to protect the vulnerable and it cut across both public and private sector so that we don’t leave it to our respective employers to fix what they want.

    “We are saying that we must continue to maintain that minimum whereby no employer should pay below that. Today, even with the law, some employers are still paying below N10000 and that is modern slavery. They will try all means to divide us, but we should not be deterred because a people determined cannot be defeated.”

    President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Bobboi Kaigama said countries all over the world have always rejig their economy to make workers the priority of the state when the country is going through hard times, but lamented that the reverse has always been the case in Nigeria.

    He said: “We know that globally, countries go through tough times and that is when concerted efforts is made by the government to rejig the economy in such a way that workers are made the priority of the state. But in this country, the reverse is the case. As creators of wealth, we are seen as slaves to our slave masters.

    “During this year’s May Day, we intend to show the Nigerian government at all levels our displeasure. In the midst of recession, devaluation of the naira and the high cost of everything, the wage of the Nigerian worker is very constant.

    “We must remember that all the 36 states of the federation, except for the first generation states, all other states that followed through memos made it as their number one guarantee that they can pay workers’ salaries from their internally generated revenue. But the same states are the one reneging in the payment of salaries.

    “We will not stop calling on the governors that their states cannot pay workers’ salaries to resign because we strongly believe that no state in this country that cannot generate revenue internally to pay salaries except the governor is not serious. We are so lazy that we just sit down and wait for federal allocation while making our internally generated revenue our weekend fund.

    “If we continue that way, we will never go anywhere. So, we insist that any state governor that feels they cannot pay workers’ salaries through internally generated revenue should honorably resign because we know that we have the resources.”

     

  • Sack of bank staff: Labour, NECA disagrees on unionisation

    Organised Labour made up of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) are heading for a coalition course with employers of labour over the recent mass sack of workers in the banking sector and non-unionisation of workers by some banks.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had asked the banks to put on hold the mass sack of workers, threatening that the government “know what to do” to any of the banks that fail to comply with the directive, while asking the unions not to picket the banks.

    President to the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and his TUC counterpart, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama told newsmen at a news conference in Geneva that they were ready to engage the banks frontally and do everything within their power to protect the interest of workers in the banks.

    They accuse the banks of undermining the principle of collective bargaining agreement which require employers to engage the unions before taking decisions to lay off workers.

    But Director General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly, Segun Oshinowo said the union leaders were being economical with the truth and challenge them to come out with evidence of any bank denying their workers the right to unionise, and faulted the position of government for the banks not to sack workers.

    President of the Trade Union Congress, Bobboi Kaigama said organised labour was ready to prove to the bank that has sacked their members that they don’t have a monopoly of disobeying collective bargaining agreement and the laws of the land.

    He said: Just like the employer has the right to hire and fire, they should also know that they must play by the rules. The rules are very clear and in every industry, there is a collective bargaining procedure in place where issues like that are addressed.

    “You are aware that while we are here, some of these banks have gone ahead to retrench their workers and the minister has made a kind of position that the government frown at that. Probably, the government cannot impose its position on the employers.

    “But you should know that the government is a referee and as tripartite partners, organised labour wants to observe the rules. But if the rules regarding redundancy are not followed, obviously, we will frown at that.

    “This thing happened while we are here and when we get back to Nigeria, we will sit down and address it. We assure you that we will do something about it. Even if it means picketing these banks, just as they disobey the laws of collective bargaining when it comes to retrenching our members, we will also show them that they don’t have the monopoly of disobedience of law.

    “If the employer feels that it is in monopoly because of the downturn, simple courtesy demand that you call for a review of some of these collective bargaining agreements so that you all jointly own up to this and make sure that this problem of retrenchment and underemployment will be addressed.

    “If these things which are in place are not followed, obviously, they should expect the wrath of organised labour.”

    President of the NLC said the unions will not sit back and watch the workers being treated like slaves in their own country, adding that as workers, organised labour must protect the interest of the workers.

    Wabba said “these workers are Nigerians and they need our protection. The fact that people wants to exploit any loophole and take advantage of them is uncalled for.

    “There is a difference between mass sack and the issue of hire and fire. In this case, it is mass sack and we can’t allow a situation where these workers are exploited or their rights denied. We are aware of what is happening in the banking sector because they refuse their workers from being unionised.

    “They refused unionisation and the issue is on the table and so, you can’t come back and say these workers are not unionised. We must respect our laws because that is the major issue.

    “As a union, we have human and trade union rights and it is a matter we have discussed here. It is within the context of human and trade union rights that this issue is situated. Therefore, as workers, we must protect them.

    “Already, we are discussing how best to protect these workers because they are Nigerians? Do we allow employers to continue to exploit them? In one of the banks, those that they disengaged last year are yet to be paid their entitlement. Do we allow the situation to continue?

    “Was it not the same banks that got bailout from the government few years ago when they were in trouble. Was the money not from public coffer? We know that the employers must protect their members and we must also defend our members.

    “We are working together and whatever it will take to protect these poor workers, we will do it because it was not their fault that they were denied unionisation. We have many of the banks that we are having pending cases with.

    “We have written them officially that the workers want to unionise and they were dilly dally. The point now is how to protect these workers who have been thrown out of their jobs. Government should be concerned about any Nigerians who will be thrown out of the job.

    “So, what the ministry did is right to say, wait and let us discuss this issue first. How can that be an issue that will not be accepted? Except there is something hidden there.

    “Otherwise, I think the pronouncement of the minister is what is expected because when they had difficulty, it was government that gave them a bailout from our collective wealth”.

    Reacting to the development, NECA Director General,  Segun Oshinowo said; “I have been on the ground for long to fault that submission. When the current governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole was the President of the NLC, we had this issue in the banking industry with one of the very big banks whom the unions had accused of de-unionisation. We were able to sit down and agree on the resolution of the matter.

    “In fact the ministry of Labour was involved in it. One of the options we were to consider then was to create an environment where individual workers in the banks will anonymously express whether they want to join the union or not. But we didn’t have to go that far because it was not necessary.

    “It is the responsibility of the unions to organise their members where ever they are. If the union should experience any obstacle in the course of that, they have the right to take the employer to court by making the point that the employer has denied their members being unionised. The question we should be asking them is whether they have tested this in court.

    “One would have expected them to take any employer that deny their staff the right to unionise to the National Industrial Court so that the court can make a pronouncement on it. Until they provide that evidence, every statement they are making is an allegation which they cannot substantiate”