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Tag: NUFBTE

  • NUFBTE trains officers, others

    NUFBTE trains officers, others

    The National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees(NUFBTE) has trained over 100 of its new officers and members on leadership.

    National President of the union,  Comrade Garba Ibrahim said the training and re-training of its officers and members remained a core vision of its leadership.

    Ibrahim noted that the union’s target is to ensure that the leaders acquire the knowledge needed for their work and upgrade their trade union capacity.

    Ibrahim urged participants to allow the training impact on their job performance and industrial peace and harmony.

    Read Also: NUFBTE president bags Africa Leader Integrity Merit Award

    He said: “I implore you to give this training the best of your mental and physical attention,  unreserved concentration that will enable you assimilate all lectures and training to be delivered.’’

    The president stated that course content was packaged in such a in a way that it would expose participants to the rudiments of trade union practices and avail them the potential to accomplish the benefits that would, ultimately, guarantee industrial peace, harmony and enhance productivity.

    General Secretary, NUFBTE, Comrade Mike Olanrewaju, said the union had not been able to train her members for a long time.

    Henceforth, he pledged, such training would be intensified and, it would, as a matter of priority, it continually be in forefront, especially to create an inclusive and enabling environment for our union leaders at all levels to navigate the economic turbulent and excruciating situation in trade union activism.

  • NUFBTE president bags Africa Leader Integrity Merit Award

    NUFBTE president bags Africa Leader Integrity Merit Award

    The National President of the National Union of Food Beverages and Tobacco Employers (NUFBTE), Garba Ibrahim, has been honoured with the African Leader of Integrity Merit Award.

    He was accorded the honour by the African Leadership Development Network in recognition of his exceptional leadership in labour union and industrial relations for the advancement of Nigeria, the continent of Africa, and the global community.

    In addition to expressing gratitude to the award’s organiser, the NUFBTE president said he was thrilled to have been chosen for the prestigious honour among other labour leaders in Nigeria.

    Read Also: NUFBTE urges govt on standard of products

    He added that this will further motivate him to ensure the topic of industrial relations is given top priority.

    The award, according to the leadership of all NUFBTE members, is a clear and perfect recognition of the untarnished track record of hard work, selfless service, diligence, focus, simplicity, and immeasurable contributions to the labour movement and humanity at large.

  • NUFBTE warns firm against engaging expatriates

    The National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) President, Comrade Lateef Oyelekan, has advised   Lacasera Company management not to allow expatriates take over positions meant for Nigerians.

    He gave the advice when Lacasera Company new Managing Director, Mr. Chinedum Okereke, visited NUFBTE executives in Lagos.

    Comrade Oyelekan, who is also the vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), told reporters after the meeting, that part of their discussions was how the company would ensure that it secured Nigerian jobs from expatriates.

    Oyelekan said: ‘’We said he should use it to protect the interest of Nigerians because if you look back most of his colleagues have erred and disappointed Nigerians.

    “Some of his colleagues back then employed expatriates into all the departments whereas Nigerians were looking for jobs.

    “If not for the intervention of President Muhammadu with Presidential Order 5 that says all jobs that Nigerians can conveniently do should not be given to expatriates, we would have been faced with more people roaming about the streets jobless,” he said.

    Read also: NUFBTE partners MINILS to boost workers’ industrial relations knowledge

    It would be recalled that the Executive Order 5 is made up of 18 sections covering various headings: Preferences, Accreditation, contract award, Language of contract, capacity development, Disqualification from contract award; Database of experts in Nigeria among others.

    Oyelekan lamented that the issue of expatriates taking Nigerian jobs had become uncontrollable in the food sector, such that even the position of a supervisor is given to an expatriate, but that Okereke promised to do what it takes to ensure that the interests of Nigerians were safeguarded.

    “We have also promised to give him all the necessary support for him to excel and make the company grow and excel.

    “We have also mandated our members and officers to give the company all the necessary support in order for it to turn around for the betterment of Nigeria,” he added.

    He further said the government was ready to listen and get information on over the influx of expatriates and that the government reacted.

    “Most of the multinationals are coming with robots and modern equipment, such that where they ought to engage 200 Nigerians, they will employ only five workers.

    “This is where the government needs to look at critically because with our population, we are not matured enough to use robots in our factories.

    “If india and China didn’t allow robots, because they will create problem of unemployment, then the Federal Government needs to come up with a policy that sophisticated machines and  robots should not be allowed in Nigeria because we are regularly producing millions of graduates in the country,” he said.

     

  • NUFBTE partners MINILS to boost workers’ industrial relations knowledge

    National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) and the Michael Imoudu Labour Institute  have collaborated to boost employees’knowledge on industrial and labour relations.

    Speaking at the event, which held at the NUFBTE National Secretariat, Michael Imoudu Labour Institute MINILS Director-General, Alhaji Saliu Ishaq, said the institute has broaden its activities to meet with their challenges.

    “We have introduced a diploma programme on the Industrial and Labour Relations to enable us serve the workers well,” he said.

    He added that both organisations were collaborating for mutual benefit, saying: “We are aware that the union has been a formidable one and we have been interacting and meeting over the years for mutual relationship.”

    He pointed out that the institution has worked with several food companies’ workers, such as Seven Up, Nestle Nigeria, and Unilever.

    According to him, “we are here to introduce to the union our bouquet of services; it is an institute that is forward looking with the new management coming on board in April, this year.

    “Since we came on board, we have been strategising on how we can move the institute forward along with our stakeholders.”

    He pointed out that the institute is impressed in the development going on in the union venturing into various businesses, with an aim of making the union viable and financially buoyant, saying unions has to be self sustaining.

    “Our services for 2018 – we are looking forward to receiving members from your member companies to take maximum advantage of our services,” he added.

    Also, NUFBTE National President, Lateef Oyelekan, said the institution has improved a lot of workers.

    He said that the first time, he visited Labour Solidarity Centre in America was through the institution.

    He pointed out that the union had diversified into other areas to generate revenue for the Union, saying, “we came up with event centre and from there we moved to commercial hotel and after the commission of the hotel we started our water factory.”

    He said, “we have learnt a lot from the institution, but the institution needs to be widely spread across the country.”

  • NUFBTE, BAT quarel over unionism

    The President, National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), Comrade Lateef Oyelekan, has urged the management of British American Tobacco, Nigeria (BAT) to comply with the rules and regulation of the union in order to avoid drastic measure being taken against the company.

    The union, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), is to propagate and protect general interests of the Nigerian workers in both public and private organisations.

    Oyelekan gave the advice after the aborted meeting with the management of BAT in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    He said efforts were made to reach agreement with the management of BAT on how to become a member of the union, where their officers would also be inaugurated, but they proved abortive.

    According to him, “It is in our constitution that any organisation

    with about 50 workforce must be unionized. BAT has over 1,000 workers and has been operating for more than 10 years.”

  • NUFBTE calls for sensitive leadership

    With barely a month to the general election, workers in the food sector of the economy have charged politicians aspiring to lead the country to be people focused in their programmes.

    Speaking at the Delegate Conference of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) in Lagos, the National President of the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), Comrade Lateef Oyelekan, said workers would only cast their votes for candidates who would make life better for them. “I want to say here that we are not partisan and have no allegiance to any party, but we would only support any party that distinguishes itself as government of workers and anyone who will support workers to have food on their table,” he said.

    Oyelekan, who noted that the union with its business ventures in hotel, water factory, event centre and others, has supported the government in its employment generation by providing work for almost 100 Nigerians, lamented that government however, has not been supportive.

    He stated the union with its lean resources spends between N3million and N4millon every month to keep its businesses running. He said: “It is government that should solve the electricity problem; we have played our part and if we in our small capacity can be spending so much, I wonder how much the bigger players are spending.”

    He said there is no doubt that electricity holds the key to economic advancement of many Nigerians and the country as an entity. According to him, many who learned one trade or the other that relies on electricity and who should be doing well as entrepreneurs have all turned to motorcycle riders, popularly called Okada.

    He advised those in government to pursue either one or two agenda and ensure success in them rather than proliferation of projects without any success.

    He lamented that the present economic state of the country has further worsened the economic condition of workers whom he stated has become more impoverished and have always been at the receiving end.

    While calling on the management of NBC to reciprocate the good gesture of the union, having ensured that there was industrial harmony in the company, Oyelekan said it was expedient upon the management to help beef up the workers pay in the New Year. He said there was cordial relationship between the workers and the management.

    NBC’s Director, Human Resources, Mrs Grace Omolamayi, however commended the workers for their trust in the management, noting that the two see each other as partners and always believed in dialogue rather than other means of settlement.

    She said: “It’s good to have the trust of the workers and at NBC we always encourage our workers to come to the table to discuss and at the end we would iron out issues with both parties leaving satisfied.” She charged the workers to contribute positively to the advancement of the union and Nigeria as a nation.

  • NUFBTE to address rights abuses by employers

    NUFBTE to address rights abuses by employers

    The Leadership of the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), said it would exploit every Industrial Relations avenue to checkmate the arbitrariness of employers in the work place..

    The National President of the union, Comrade Lateef Oyelekan at the National Executive Meeting (NEC) in Lagos expressed dismay at the flagrant abuse of the workers’ right by some employers, most especially in the area of redundancy.

    Citing the present disaffection against the management of Fan Milk in Ibadan over the unilateral and unprocedural termination of over 65 staff without recourse to the union, Oyelekan said the union would ensure that justice prevails.

    He said: “We will use all the means available to us in the area of industrial relations, including strike to ensure that our members in Fan Milk and other companies are not just sacked anyhow without carrying the union along. We understand the fact that the employer has the right to hire and fire, but under our contractual agreement, it should be done with the consent of the union.”

    The NUFBTE President therefore charged the employers body, Association of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) to call its members to order in a bid to ensure that peace continues to reign in the sector.

    “As we have understanding at our NEC, we once again seek the cooperation of AFBTE to appeal to their members who flagrantly go against labour the policy”, he said.

    Oyelekan who lamented the state of unemployment in the country said the employers ought to be supporting government in ameliorating the crisis rather than increasing the number due to their selfish reason.

    He however noted that its union has made a remarkable contribution to reducing the state of unemployment in the country through several investments the present leadership has undertaken.

    He said unemployment is a devil which must be tackled by all, stressing that government alone cannot address the problem of unemployment.

    On the state of the nation, the NUFBTE boss said the continued assault of Boko Haram insurgents and the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease called for renewed efforts from the government.

    He  said: “The ironic and painful aspect of this security and health challenges is the glaring fact that the government in power has relegated these vital issues to the background and instead has brazenly chosen to concentrate undue efforts on 2015 re-elections at all cost. The helpless situations across the length and breadth of the nation calls for extra-security and health alert on the part of every citizens and residents.”

  • NUFBTE begins strike over sack of 65 workers

    The National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) has commenced an indefinite strike at Fan Milk Company in Ibadan over what it described as illegal termination of the appointment of over 65 members of the union.

    The union said its action was in conjunction with the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) procedure.

    It called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to prevail on the mobile police officers in Ibadan, who have been assaulting the workers since the action began.

    Its National President, Comrade Lateef Oyelekan in a statement, said the management had mobilised five trucks of mobile policemen to the company to threaten the workers, who are only exercising their rights and have not embarked on any form of hooliganism.

    He noted that the union’s action  was as a result of a redundancy action carried out by the company  without discussing with the union.

    “The action of the management is unilateral, as the union was not privy to it and as such, it negates the contractual agreement we have with the company, hence it is null and void”, Oyelekan said.

    He explained that the company only wrote the union last Thursday on the issue, which the union replied that it would be available for discussion on September 22 after its National Executive Meeting (NEC).

    He said: “But we were baffled that the management could start distributing letters the following day, which means it was intentional and that is against industrial relations practice and Nigeria Labour Law.”

    The company’s action, according to him, could not have been unconnected with the union’s refusal of the Fan Milk’s management plan to cancel workers’ existing gratuities and move the accrued fund to a Swiss Bank.

    He said payment of gratuity in the sector is non negotiable as it is established at the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC), a negotiation body for both the employers and employees. He stressed that no employer in the sector can contradict or go against it.

    Meanwhile, the company’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Seyi Adetayo said the company has met with the union over six times since January this year on the issue of redundancy, and the union at each meeting never saw reason with the management on the need to carry out the exercise.