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Tag: ILO

  • We’ll unite, reconcile all factions in NLC – Wabba

    We’ll unite, reconcile all factions in NLC – Wabba

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday in Abuja expressed commitment to reconciling and uniting all the factions in its rank.

    The President of the congress, Dr Ayuba Wabba, expressed the commitment at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum.

    He said that the splinter groups within the union had created unavoidable challenges for the leaders, hence the need for reconciliation and unity.

    According to him;“It is true that we had challenges after our conference but it is usual in every system because the road is not also limited to NLC.

    “Every system and every organisation in our country also have had its own share of the challenge.

    “So, part of the challenge is what our colleague did, saying that they don’t agree with the outcome and instead of also following the process through the normal channel of either arbitration or resorting to normal processes, they then went to declare themselves.

    “Certainly two wrongs do not make a right and we don’t lament over that; they are our colleagues and we have made every efforts to try to bring them in, including the efforts made by our veterans.

    “All of them have been on the issue of reconciliation and we are committed to that, but it takes also two to tango.

    “While we have been able to forfeit all our own commitment in trying to accommodate our colleagues and ensuring also that we have a very strong united NLC, despite of our strength.

    “Even if it’s one person that has deviated, we are trying our effort to bring them in but that will not also water down our engagement, we will be focused, we will be committed.

    “Our work will also speak for us. “

    He said that the NLC leadership would always represent the interest of workers and initiate policies and programmes that will promote good governance.

    Wabba said that though NLC was passing through a rough patch at the moment, it would emerge stronger, united and better focused.

    He said that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was against child labour and the casualisation of labour.

  • Jobs, terrorism top Nigerian delegates’ discussion at ILO talks

    Jobs, terrorism top Nigerian delegates’ discussion at ILO talks

    Worsening terrorism in Northeastern part of  Nigeria,  youth unemployment were among issues that topped the Federal Government’s agenda to the 104th International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference.

    Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Clement Iloh, who led the delegation, said these emerging challenges and solutions called for more introspection among member states, especially the dynamic roles culture, religion, politics and ethnicity, among others, plays in fostering development.

    Iloh reminded the conference of the adverse effect of terrorism with implications for discrimination, stigmatisation, abduction, kidnapping, and rape at work, among others. He said: “There was need for international collaboration to fashion out a framework that would address these hydra headed problems amongst member states in the world.”

    President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Waba, who spoke on the occasion urged world leaders to embrace the spirit of unity in the current struggle by the tripartite body that make up the ILO, the government, employers and workers to fight anti-workers’ activities in developing countries.

    He said: “We call on world leaders to unite in the spirit of unity to confront anti-workers’ activities. We are concerned with the increasing challenges which the emerging forms of employment relationships such as contract staffing, casualisation, part time work and employees without borders pose to developing countries in confronting the basic issues of fundamental principles and rights at work.”

    Comrade Waba added that the issue of dealing with the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in some crises affected countries such as the Northeast of Nigeria is a current challenge that needed to be urgently addressed within the centenary framework.

    Also, President of Trade Union Congress, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, said the country is in need of international aid to confront insurgency ravaging some parts of the country. He said: “We need international support to confront and to address the hydra headed problems associated with terrorism, insurgency and other forms of political upheavals with implications for discrimination, stigmatisation, abduction, kidnapping and rape at work.”

    On child labour, the National Women Commission Chairperson of TUC, Comrade Oyinkansola Olasanoye said: “Our new investigative report in Nigeria shows the need for a coherent policy approach that tackles child labour and the lack of decent jobs for youths.

    “Keeping children in school and receiving good education until at least the minimum age of employment will determine the whole life of a child. It is the only way for a child to acquire the basic knowledge and skills needed for further learning, and for her or his future working life.”

  • NLC seeks ILO’s help over Boko Haram, others

    NLC seeks ILO’s help over Boko Haram, others

    Factional leader of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade  Ayuba Wabba, has said the issues of endemic poverty, unemployment, and low wage regimes combined with the Boko Haram insurgency have worsened the condition the Nigerian child.

    Speaking at the ongoing International Labour Organisation (ILO), Conference in Geneva,  Wabba said the situation is so manifestly grave, and demands immediate global attention.

    Wabba argued that these circumstances were man-made and were therefore curable.

    He requested ILO to avail the government of President Muhammadu Buhari the necessary technical and institutional support to revive the culture of social dialogue in the country, pledging that the NLC is deeply committed to genuine participation in the revival of social dialogue.

    One of the ways of ameliorating this situation, according to Wabba, is the institutionalisation of a robust social dialogue mechanism reminiscent of the presidency of the late Umoru Yar’Adua, which he said substantially benefitted the industrial relations practice in  the country during the late president’s tenure.

    He said NLC is ready to discuss the core issues of labour interest including job creation, migration management, social protection floors implementation and the broader issues around the structural transformation of the Nigerian economy.

    Wabba welcomed the announcement by the ILO Director General that a Global Commission would be put in place to look at the issues within the world of work as well as serve as a debate document during the centenary of ILO.

    Wabba maintained that for Africa, industrialisation is key to development and both the state and the public service have an immense role to play.

  • 21m in forced labour, says ILO

    21m in forced labour, says ILO

    About 21 million women, men and children are forced to work under inhuman conditions on farms, in sweatshops, on board fishing vessels, in the sex industry or in private homes, with their sweat generating $150 billion in illegal profits annually, Director General, International Labour Organisation, Guy Ryder, has said.

    Ryder, who gave the startling statistics in a statement marking this year’s World Day of Social Justice, insisted that there should be no excuse, that forced labour can be stopped.

    “World Day of Social Justice should galvanise action against poverty and social exclusion. Work done in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity – decent work – is a key to inclusion and it is a conduit of social justice.

    “Yet the global situation gives cause for grave concern. The economic gap continues to widen, with the richest 10 per cent earning 30 to 40 per cent of total income while the poorest 10 per cent earn between two and seven per cent.

    “In 2013, 939 million workers – 26.7 per cent of total employment, were still coping on $2 a day or less. Millions of young people facing a future of unemployment or working poverty are losing hope in promises of economic and social progress,” Ryder said.

    He lamented that women and children are particularly at risk of being abducted and sold into slavery in times of violent conflict, stressing that in some instances, forced labour keeps entire families and communities in abject poverty for generations.

    “Ending forced labour calls for integrated approaches. Governments, employers and their organisations, trade unions and civil society organisations, each have a role to play in protecting, defending and empowering those who are vulnerable, as well as creating opportunities for decent work for all,” he said.

  • 670m jobs in 15 years, says ILO

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said over 670 million jobs are needed to be created over the next 15 years to keep up with the growth of the labour force and contain the spread of unemployment in the world

    ILO’s Special Representative to the United Nations (UN), Ms. Jane Stewart, who made this known while reviewing the implementation of the ILO’s progressive Global Jobs Pact, called on the international communities to combine decent work and inclusive growth into one goal in the  post 2015 development agenda

    “It makes good sense to combine decent work and inclusive growth into one goal to be inclusive and sustainable, economic growth must create decent jobs  as the ILO estimates that around 670 million jobs need to be created over the next 15 years to keep up with the growth of the labour force and contain the spread of unemployment,” she said.

    To achieve the goal of decent work for all, ILO called on the international community to, by 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.

    “To achieve this target, significant efforts will be needed to reduce large numbers of the working poor, to increase employment rates for women, youth and people with disabilities, to promote formalisation and close the gender pay gap,” she  said.

    Meanwhile, over seven million people from 194 countries who participated in MY World (the United Nations (UN) survey) have voted for better jobs opportunities, health care and education as the top three priorities for post-2015 development agenda.

    The MY World survey is the largest survey ever undertaken by the UN in its 70-year-old history. It has reached over seven million people all over the world, mostly young women and men.

    To celebrate this milestone, the UN released the report titled: “We the peoples.”

  • Nigeria still at risk of Ebola outbreak – ILO

    Nigeria still at risk of Ebola outbreak – ILO

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said Nigeria is still at risk of Ebola outbreak despite curtailing it.

    The body hinged its belief on the continued spread of the virus within the West African sub region and across the globe.

    The ILO Country Director in Nigeria, Ms. Sinanzeni Chuma-Mkandawire, issued the warning at a one day interactive session on Post ILC 2014 and outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria, organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress on Wednesday.

    Ms Chuma-Mkanfawire said Nigeria still remain at an elevated risk of an Ebola outbreak because of the continued spread of the disease and the free movement of people within the ECOWAS member states.

    She said as the epidemic rage out of control in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Nigeria remains the “only country to have curtailed the outbreak of the disease.

    “The unprecedented Ebola outbreak poses serious health risks for workers in various occupations and has had a significant occupational mortality, especially among health care workers.

    “The current outbreak of Ebola in west Africa is the largest and most complicated since Ebola was first discovered in 1976. There had been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It has also spread between countries, starting in Guinea.

    “The number of patients with Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is about 6,500 with more than 3,000 deaths. In Nigeria, a total of 19 confirmed cases were recorded with seven deaths.

    “The health workers are at elevated risk of infection. They are at risk of infection when caring for Ebola patients, particularly if they do not follow strictly the recommended measures for prevention and control. Within the West Africa Sub region a total of 373 health workers have been infected with EVD and 208 have died,” the ILO official stated.

  • Nigeria’s economy outlook growing, says World Bank

    Nigeria’s economy outlook growing, says World Bank

    Nigeria’s short term macroeconomic outlook improved in the first half of this year relative to 2013, according to the World Bank in its new Nigeria Economic Report (NER) launched yesterday in Abuja.

    The report states: Revenues to the Federation have increased, foreign reserves have stabilised, the Excess Crude Account (ECA) has been augmented, and prospects for growth are stronger than last year.”

    The stabilisation of foreign reserves the World Bank said, “reflects greater confidence among investors. Following a year of decline, foreign reserves stabilised in April-May, in the context of improved confidence of investors.

    The precise causes of this stabilization the World Bank noted, will need to be assessed further when more data becomes available. “Yet the partial stabilisation of expectations of investors concerning oil prices, fiscal policy, and the commitment of the Central Bank to defending the exchange rate is clearly important,” said the World Bank.

    Expectations about the performance of the oil sector, it said, have improved in general, bolstered by increases in oil revenues accruing to the government.

    The World Bank, using the International Labour Organisation (ILO), definition, stated that “unemployment rate in Nigeria, according to a usual ILO definition, is likely lower than 10 per cent.

    This, it said, “is the conclusion that comes from unofficial assessments, including that of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and does not contradict the fact that the scarcity of jobs is the number one economic in Nigeria”.

    As in many other developing countries, the report noted, “most Nigerians cannot afford to be completely unemployed”. “Those without good productive employment therefore typically engage in various low productivity and low paying tasks for survival.”

    Unemployment, the report said, “may be better understood as an underemployment problem corresponding to a scarcity of high productivity jobs, and in many cases of highly qualified candidates to fill those jobs”. “These additional jobs and qualifications need to be created in Nigeria through accelerated private sector growth in the cities and improvements in the country’s education system.”

    The re-based GDP estimates reveal a larger, more dynamic and complex economy than did previous statistics, said the report, stresses that macroeconomic risks remain due to uncertainty about future oil output, oil prices and short term capital flows.

    The NER analyses new data from household surveys in 2010/2011 and 2012/2013 to reassess poverty and living standards in Nigeria and “concludes that poverty rates in Nigeria are likely significantly lower than previously believed, and progress toward poverty reduction may be stronger”.

    According to the report, “poverty reduction in Nigeria appears to be primarily an urban phenomenon, with poverty rates in rural areas higher, and poverty reduction slower”.

    While recent panel surveys indicate that the per capita national poverty rate based on the official poverty line may now be as low as 33.1 per cent, a large share of the Nigerian population the report said “is still not far above the poverty line, indicating vulnerability.”

    “The combination of the new GDP and poverty estimates is valuable in giving us what we believe to be a clearer picture of development and poverty reduction in Nigeria,” said John Litwack, Lead Economist and Acting Country Manager of the World Bank.

    The NER also highlights continuing differences between Nigeria’s regions in poverty reduction. The South and North Central regions show progress in poverty reduction between 2010 and 2013. The North West witnessed little change, and the Northeast experienced an increase in the poverty rate along with a general decline in living standards.

    “Improvements in public services, key infrastructure to better connect markets, and measures to increase productivity in agriculture could help put Northern regions on a strong path toward poverty reduction,” said Mr Litwack, lead author of the report, whilst also noting the critical role of security.

    In 2013, federation revenues mirrored federal budgetary revenues which also fell short of expectations in 2013, despite coverage by the ECA of a good part of the shortfalls.

    The World Bank report noted that “some expenditure items were not fully funded. In particular, the capital budget was significantly underfunded while recurrent expenditures and statutory transfers were almost fully funded. Actual capital spending in 2013 was 60 per cent of planned. The federal budget deficit for 2013 of 738.9 billion Naira was 17 per cent lower than projected and amounted to one percent of (re-based) GDP.”

  • Jobs, not ‘Chinese Rice’

    Jobs, not ‘Chinese Rice’

    The avoidable deaths of Saturday, March 15, when more than 18 unemployed persons were trampled upon and lost their lives at the kangaroo Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise, have, once again, brought to the fore the dismal statistics of and the raging debates on the state of unemployment in Nigeria. However, amidst the calls for resignation, suspension, dismissal, the tragedy should not be a platform to vent pent-up anti-establishment feelings or try to score cheap political points. I think what went wrong should be something that will sensitise the government and the generality of the citizenry, towards finding a lasting solution to unemployment in the country. This issue has remained unaddressed in view of the wanton job preference that is usually displayed by the teeming number of employable youth when openings are either advertised or announced.

    The unfortunate incident should form the fulcrum on which a solid programme of employment generation – at both the public and private domains – should revolve, not one that should be subjected to the application of fleeting palliatives. A system that allows impoverished job seekers to pay money to obtain job application forms, which, in the main, does not even guarantee them a job, is sheer robbery by the privileged. According to the International Labour Organisation, ILO, unemployment statistics for 2012, there are 197 million persons currently out of work worldwide, which accounts for six percent of the total world workforce without a job. In the Nigerian context, the issue of unemployment is traceable to many factors that include the soaring population figure; proliferation of educational and vocational institutions; structural and frictional unemployment; and the one that has flourished for over four decades -the preference by many graduates (and non-graduates alike) for socially-elevating and wealth-creating positions in the banking and allied industry, mobile telecommunications; Customs, Immigration, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and other Para-military formations; foreign service etc which provides leverages for immediate financial and job fulfilment.

    Perhaps, more than any other thing, the tragedy of this craze for “preferential unemployment” is that a large percentage of those unemployed persons seeking placement in these “life-changing” working environments are least trained or suited for such positions. Therefore, one issue that is incidental to finding a lasting abatement to the issue of chronic unemployment is that of self-employment through job creation. Though not an end-all panacea for full employment, being one’s own employer provides self-fulfilment and the platform to manage available time and also create employment avenues for others. This is the ideal situation, and this is where entrepreneurship readily comes in.

    Sometimes, when the various governments – federal, states or local governments – talk about creating jobs, I wonder about the magic wand they intend to employ to create these jobs when, in actual fact, what is on ground does not show any genuine commitment to either grow or support entrepreneurship in the country. Entrepreneurship or investing, in the Nigerian context, runs like a torture process, especially where basic and strategic infrastructures that will foster the holistic setting-up and growth of commerce and industry are lacking, grossly inadequate or outmoded.

    Many unemployed persons who have attempted the self-employment solution have been constrained by bad roads; lack of constant and adequate power supply; non-provision of potable and regular water supply; stress-filled allocation process for suitable and adequate land in rural and urban areas, including the procurement of certificates of occupancy; the non-liberalisation of regulations, procedures and approvals for the formation of new commercial enterprises and industries; the dearth of professional advice with back-up services by the relevant government agencies. Above all, any prospective entrepreneur, especially those coming from the unemployment queue, are confronted with the most debilitating and excruciating hurdle: financial capital to actualise the dream of self-employment.

    If these critical draw-back factors are surmounted by the willingness and resolve of governments at the various levels to provide the enabling environment for commerce and entrepreneurship to thrive, then the magnitude of the unemployment statistics will be greatly reduced. In tackling the ever-present ogre of unemployment with its attendant social problems, Nigerians have been greatly fixated on the Keynesian model that emphasises a preference for government’s intervention in the economy to reduce the spiralling cases of unemployment in all the strata of the production chain and those of service providers.

    In reverse, there are certain government’s economic policies, programmes, actions and inactions, that tend to trigger recurrent shocks and disequilibrium that sometimes reduce the aggregate demand for goods and services, which, in turn, reduces the demand for workers. In essence, government intervention has more or less amounted to mere tokenism. They include job creation in the public service, financial stimuli to employers of labour in form of waivers, tax holidays, low interest rates, protective import restrictions etc.

    Available statistics point to the inexorable fact that rather than creating long-lasting job opportunities for the teeming unemployed persons, the various levels of government tend to provide glorified “soup kitchen” alternatives that only address those issues that expire or lapse with the tenure of such governments. These include street-cleaning; traffic and crowd-control; communal farming; revenue collection; business clusters and cooperatives and even thuggery or bodyguard gangs.

    When viewed from the prism of the failure of various governments in their primary responsibility profile to cater to the welfare of its people, it is pertinent to say that the fear of the unknown and lack of focus in career choice for self-employment, contribute in no small measure to the frightening population of unemployed persons in Nigeria. Therefore, what should engage the attention of all Nigerians at the moment, is providing a holistic solution to what could have propelled 522,650 jobless youth to apply for, pay the sum of N1,000 each and be short-listed for 4,556 actual vacant positions in the Nigeria Immigration Service.

    When we place undue emphasis on issues of reparation and restitution as atonement for the unfortunate death of the applicants, which are merely cosmetic and tangential, we only scratch the surface of the ingrained problem of acute unemployment rather than provide a satisfying and holistic solution. The nagging question has always been: why is a large proportion of our employable populace unemployed? The sore point of the unemployment bottleneck is that the unemployed, including those that lost their lives struggling to fill non-existent places and extricate themselves from the millions-strong unemployed queue, are victims of the weak leadership modems at federal, state and local levels that lack the political will to create or enable platforms to reduce the frightening unemployment statistics which have overshot the irreducible indices of the ILO.

    It is glaring that we have lost the battle to provide decent jobs for our teeming population of employable youth, especially graduates of various disciplines who are roaming the streets after many years of graduation. In retrospect, the tragic occurrences of Saturday, March 15, were avoidable if proactive actions and due diligence were applied in the fateful recruitment exercise, rather than the commercialization of a process that would assuage the unemployment status of the 522,650 applicants.

    The delegates at the on-going national confab should focus attention on the prime issue of unemployment in Nigeria, which should be given as much prominence as those tagged as contentious or important to the survival and continued cohesion of the Nigerian nation. It would be a good thing if the delegates can do away with getting enmeshed in discussing such inanities as ‘Chinese rice’ and what they need to fill their stomachs, their craze for high-decibel but meaningless titles and all that. Instead, they should concentrate more on the nagging issues of chronic unemployment among both the skilled and unskilled cadre of persons in the country, as well as, insecurity, especially the perpetually rising cases of ethno-religious conflicts all over the place. These should be part of the highpoint topics that should be in the same realm as that of fiscal responsibility and revenue allocation, devolution of powers, creation of local governments, elections and so on. In fact, unemployment in the country is a tinderbox waiting for a stray spark!

     

     

  • 54% of youths jobless, says NBS

    54% of youths jobless, says NBS

    ABOUT 54 per cent of youths are unemployed, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

    In its 2012/13 National Baseline Youth Survey Report, released in Abuja, it, said: “More than half, about 54 per cent of the youth population are unemployed. Of this, young women stood at 51.9 per cent compared to their young men counterpart with 48.1 per cent, who are unemployed.’’

    It said out of 46,836 youths recorded against different types of crimes, 42,071, representing 75.5 per cent were males, while the remaining 24.5 per cent were young women, adding that among the 32 different crimes committed, Marijuana (Indian hemp) smoking has the highest figure, representing 15.7 per cent.

    “This was followed by theft and murder with 8.1 and 7.4 per cent. The least committed crime was Immigration/Emigration representing 0.04 per cent.’’

    The report said over five million youths indicated they were involved in conflict resolution at one level of governance or the other.

    Their responses showed that most youths, about 64.9 per cent were involved in conflict prevention at the community level, while 30.9 per cent got involved at the ward level, the report added.

    It said: “Only 1.6 per cent got involved at the state level, while 83.9 per cent males were involved in football than females with 16.1 per cent,” it added.

    According to the survey, the population of youths aged between 15 and 35 years is estimated to be 64 million, while females are more than males in all age groups.

    The report said Lagos State had the highest percentage of youths , with 6.1 per cent, followed by Kano State, representing 5.7 per cent, while Bayelsa State had the lowest with 1.3 per cent.

    The report said out of the group of married youths, 68 per cent were young women, while 32 per cent young men, the rate of divorce and widowhood was high among the young women with 70.9 and 71.8 per cent, while 38.5 per cent young women were never married.’’

    The report said the objective of the study was to provide data for the design and development of youth-focused programmes by the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and other partners in the country.

    The study was aimed at generating empirical data to inform policy decisions and guide their impl

    Recently, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), alerted that youth unemployment, especially in developing countries, has reached a crisis point.

    In the report, about 73.4 million youths are expected to be out of work in the year, representing an increase of 3.5 million over the 2007 figure. It also added that 90 per cent of the global youth population is from developing countries.

    According to ILO, massive unemployment has made youths in many countries, ready tools for unscrupulous politicians ready to destabilise their countries, describing the development a threat to the socio-economic and political health of many countries.

    The global labour body has, therefore, highlighted the need for policy makers to devote more resources to employment generation programmes to checkmate the situation.

  • ASSBIFI to Fed Govt: reduce poverty level by 25%

    ASSBIFI to Fed Govt: reduce poverty level by 25%

    THE Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has called on the government to reduce poverty level by 25 per cent.

    The workers made the call at their eighth Triennial Delegates Conference in Ilorin.

    President of the union, Comrade Sunday Salako, said the appeal was his reaction to a recent World Bank report, stating that 100 million Nigerians live in destitution.

    The report, he added, stated that 63 per cent of the population live on less than $1.25 a day.

    He said: “This is quite unacceptable in a country that is ranked among the highest producers of crude oil in the world and with vast arable land resources.

    ‘’ASSBIFI, therefore, mandates all tiers of the government to reduce the poverty level by at least 25 per cent by the year 2016.’’

    President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, sought cordial relation between employers and employees to improve productivity.

    He said both parties must co-operate with each other for their mutual benefit and the good of the larger society. He added that any protracted friction between employer and employee “invariably results in a lose-lose situation for both sides because it is the business of the enterprise that suffers the most”.

    Kaigama believes that disagreements do not have to degenerate into conflicts if the parties, especially the employers, are proactive in dealing with work-place issues and continual oiling of relationship.

    Meanwhile, ASSBIFI has given a marching order to some management of banks and insurance firms to obey the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Core Conventions 87 and 89 and Section 40 of the Constitution on workers’ unionisation or face industrial crisis in the next few weeks.

    Salako urged some management of banks and insurance companies to obey the ILO convention and the constitution.

    He said: “The era when employers decide whether their members of staff should be organised is gone. The ILO Core Conventions 87 and 89 and Section 40 of the Constitution are sacrosanct. ASSBIFI sympathises with our colleagues in these unionised banks and insurance companies on the attack on their rights by their managements and declare that modern day slavery and attack on workers’ right must stop.”

    On lits threat of an industrial crisis in the sector, Salako said the following organisations; Diamond Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered, Fidelity and Guaranty Trust banks, as well as Leadway Assurance, Standard Alliance Insurance, Capital Express Insurance, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI), Goldlink Assurance and Continental Reinsurance must allow their senior staff members to unionise, adding that that is the only solution to avert unrest.