The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Union

  • Union: 11,000 may lose jobs over Intels closure

    Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has expressed concern over the quit notice and cancellation of Intels Nigeria Limited Vessel Pilotage Service by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). It warned that the development may lead to loss of over 11,000 direct and indirect jobs.

    A statement signed by its President-General, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, said most of these employees are Nigerians with families and responsibilities.

    The union said the socio-economic implications of most of losing their jobs in a volatile area like Rivers State can be better imagined than experienced.

    “As organised labour, our utmost concern is job security and welfare of our members in Intels Nigeria Limited. Today, we are aware that Intels has under its employment over 5000 direct employees and over 6000 indirect employees bringing the number of employees to over 11,000.

  • Union decries killings of Nigerians in South Africa

    Union decries killings of Nigerians in South Africa

    The President, Nigeria Union, South Africa (NUSA), Mr Adetola Olubajo, on Wednesday decried series of killings of Nigerians in the country, saying the body is not happy with it.

    Olubajo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone from Johannesburg, South Africa, that Nigerian and South African Governments should protect the lives of Nigerians in that country.

    “ The union is not happy with the killings and we appeal to the Federal Government and South African Government to protect Nigerians here (South Africa).

    “Something urgent must be done to stop this ugly trend,” he said.

    According to him, this has been a very dark week for us in South Africa.

    “First, Mr Jelili Omoyele, a 35-year-old cellular phone technician, was allegedly shot dead in Johannesburg on Saturday.

    “ Another Nigerian, Mr Olamilekan Badmus, 25 years native of Ogun, was also killed at Vaal Vreneging, near Johannesburg on Tuesday.

    “On the same day, a third Nigerian, identified as Ifeanyi, a chicken seller, was accidentally shot in the head by the police.

    “ The Nigerian is in the hospital battling for his life,” he said.

    Olubajo said that some executive members of the union met with the police at Vaal Vreneging and a case had been opened.

    “ A murder case has been opened by the police. The Independent Police Investigating Directorate has commenced investigation. “Our Legal Secretary is on top of the situation,” he said.

    The NUSA president said that the union also met with Nigerians in the area and told them to be calm, law-abiding and allow the police to do their work. (NAN)

  • Marrying a DJ will be perfect union – DJ Lambo

    Marrying a DJ will be perfect union – DJ Lambo

    In what many consider a male-dominated world, Chocolate City chairlady, Olawunmi Okerayi popularly known as DJ Lambo has continued to soar on the turntables. The Ogun state-born Disc Jockey speaks with OLAITAN GANIU on her passion as a DJ, appointment as president of CBN among other issues. Excerpt:

    How did end up as a Disc Jockey?

    I have always had a passion for it, even when I was much younger. I practically taught myself how to ‘DeeJay’ and perfected my craft.

    Which institution did you attend and what course did you study?

    I studied English Literature at the University of Abuja.

    How did you get signed on Chocolate City?

    I first started out as M.I’s DJ and then I got signed to Loopy Records before I was finally signed to Chocolate City.

    How did it hit you when you were named President of Choc Boi Nation?

    I was nervous at first, but excited at the same time. It’s a huge responsibility but not one I cannot handle.

    Disc Jockeying is a job dominated by male. How are you dealing with that?

    I don’t think it is a competition to be honest. Everybody has their lane and mine is what I am focusing on.

    Can you marry a fellow DJ?

    I wish I could marry a DJ because that would be the perfect union.

    How did you feel playing for Big Brother Naija housemates?

    It was an amazing experience. The housemates were a lot of fun.

    Aside DJ, what else are you into?

    Every other thing I do is still music and entertainment related.

    What are your plans for the rest of the year?

    I intend to put out one more single and host ‘Lagos Party Animals’.

    What informs your dress sense?

    As a DJ I have to be very comfortable because of the nature of the job. That is why you would always catch me in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

    Can you say something about your hairstyle?

    I think it is a small reflection of my personality.

    It is said that some DJs indulge in alcohol and ‘weed’ to get inspiration. What gives you energy on the job?

    I am naturally the energy in the room and I never need any form of intoxication

    How has the economy affected your business?

    The economy has affected the country as a whole. So, if anything, it has made my work a little harder.

    What’s your take on today’s music business?

    We really aren’t where we ought to be, but we are very well on our way.

    When are you planning to walk down the aisle?

    (Laughs) That should happen very soon, God willing.

    Where do you see yourself in next 10 years?

    Full blown.

    Have you ever been embarrassed?

    Not really.

    How do you unwind?

    With a nice funny movie, good book and maybe, a glass of wine.

  • NAFDAC union insists on strike until new DG’s appointment

    NAFDAC union insists on strike until new DG’s appointment

    The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC ) workers say they will continue with their strike until the Federal Government appoints a substantive Director General.

    Mr Ejor Michael, the National Public Relations Officer (PRO), Medical and Health Union of Nigeria, NAFDAC chapter, made this known on Saturday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    The union on Sept. 22 embarked on an indefinite strike to demand for a new DG or the appointment of the most senior director to run the affairs of the agency.

    Michael said that the Acting DG, Mrs Yetunde Oni, had been on acting capacity since February 2016 and had acted for over one year.

    “She clocks 60 years on Thursday and by virtue of public service rule she has to go but she doesn’t want to go.

    “”We, therefore, ask the Federal Government to give us a substantive DG or the most senior director in NAFDAC take over same way Oni took over as the most senior in 2016,” he said.

    The union alleged that the acting director had handed over to a director who is not the most senior.

    READ ALSO: DISQUIET IN NAFDAC AS ACTING DG STAYS PUT

    Mr Idu Isua, Vice Chairman of the union said that the next senior director was supposed to take charge after Oni had attained the mandatory age of 60 years.

    He said that the next in line to the Acting DG should automatically take charge before the appointment of a substantive DG by the Federal Government.

    In a swift reaction, Mr Jimoh Abubakar, Director of Public Relations and Special Duties, NAFDAC said that the appointment of the DG was an exclusive preserve of the President.

    He said that the controversy surrounding the appointment of an acting DG was needless, adding that the Federal Government was aware of the situation and would take appropriate step at the right time.

    “Government in its wisdom will take appropriate decision, we should not be in a hurry, government is aware of information we are not privy to.  (NAN)

  • Strike: How union officials chased nurses with cane

    Strike: How union officials chased nurses with cane

    Reporters’ diary of how nurses were chased out by cane welding union officials

    I went to keep a medical check up appointment on Thursday at a federal Teaching Hospital in Lagos. I left my house at about 6.30 am, got to the hospital about an hour later, but had to wait till about 11.00 am for my medical records file to be found. Some patients waited endlessly without getting theirs.

    After the nurse on duty checked my weight and I was waiting with others for our Blood pressure to be taken, she got a call that the strike by health workers has commenced and immediately packed the files.
    “Sorry I have to leave now. Our strike has started and union officials will soon be here to chase us out,” she told patients who have been waiting for hours to get a chance to see the doctors.
    The doctors who just resumed from their own strike did their best to salvage the situation by attending to the few they could without the assistance of the nurses.
    Some nurses who tried to complete what they were doing before the announcement of the strike were chased out by CANE welding union officials who threatened to beat them up.
    After managing to see the doctor, I could not book my next appointment as the record officials have also been chased out by the union officials.
    The doctors promised to do their best but it was apparent that there was not much they could do without the nurses and record officers.
    I left a crowd of dejected patients, many of whom left their homes before 6am to be early enough for their appointments.
    I am still haunted by the desperate expression on the face of a female patient who is recovering from stroke and managed to come alone to the hospital.
    Her medical file could not be found. She managed to move round the clinic pleading with the record officers to retrieve her file.
    The very hard working record officer who was obviously overwhelmed by the crowd he had to attend tried his best to sort out the files before he was chased out, but the files were nowhere to be found.
    How can doctors attend to patients without their medical records?
    The joke is really on Nigerians who have to attend government hospitals where they cannot get prompt treatment because the medical officers are either inadequate, do not have enough facilities to work with and have to resort to embarking on strike to get the government attention.

    Unlike most Nigerians, our leaders at the slightest opportunity jet out at our expense to get medical treatment.
    Who cares about others who cannot go abroad for treatment ?

  • Union kicks against appointments in NIMET

    Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) has condemned recent appointment at the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET), saying they undermine professionalism in the agency.

    The union is demanding a reversal of the appointments made by the Minister of State, Aviation, saying it will not fold its hands and watch strange individuals be impose on the agency.

    In a statement signed by the General Secretary, Yusuf Lekke Zambuk, the union said failure of the government to reverse the appointments may result in a breakdown of the existing industrial harmony in the agency.

    He said the appointment of non- career professionals into key technical and scientific directorate positions in the agency is bound to hinder productivity, professionalism and also demoralise eligible career professionals for their rightful positions within the agency.

    The union, however, calls on the Federal Government as a matter of urgency, to reverse the appointment.

    Zambuk said letters had been written to the Office of the Acting President of the Federation, the Minister of State for Aviation, and the Minister of Labour and Employment in on the matter, but no response had been received.

  • Union lauds private employment agencies for jobs enhancement

    The Human Capital Providers Association of Nigeria (HuCaPAN) has said private employment agencies have enhanced jobs and development of businesses.

    HuCaPAN Presdent Mr Remi Adegboyega said while addressing reporters in Lagos.

    HuCaPAN with 150 companies was established to provide an interface through which government and its relevant authorities can consult and relate with providers of outsourced personnel.

    According to Adegboyega, global economic challenges and the need for greater efficiency in businesses have led to increase in dynamic business models.

    He said employers believed that companies that would be sustained must be lean, efficient and responsive because rising wage bills and skills deficit are huge risks to investment.

    ‘’Many workers choose agency work because of their circumstances and the greater flexibility PEAs provide. For some workers, agencies act as a gateway to securing permanent work.

    ‘’While other workers choose temporary work because it allows them to best balance their work with commitments such as self-development, entrepreneurship interests, sports or farming,’’ Adegboyega said.

    He said the market of private employment agencies have grown significantly as business operators in a bid to face their core competencies have adopted the “do what you do best and outsource the rest” model.

    He, however, said employment agencies should recognise the right of workers to belong to a union and ensure that workers contributed to issues that affect their employment.

    ‘’An employers should ensure that he or she will not stop workers from joining the union. The employer must negotiate regularly with union leaders on how to improve workers condition of service,’’ he said.

    The HuCaPAN chief further said members were encouraged to pay the stipulated minimum wage to any person recruited, and tax and pension deducted must be remitted.

    “Every Nigerian irrespective of  their work should be proud of what they are doing and be treated fairly in their jobs. They should attain the basic rights of dignity at work.

    “It is in doing this that the economic value of each and every one of our teeming population would be shored up,’’ he said.

    HuCaPAN is a body that get owners of business of private employment together to enable them improve the operations and comply with statutory requirement.

  • Declare state of emergency on unemployment, says union

    Concerned over the alarming rate of unemployment in the country, the President of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Comrade Oyinkansola Olasanoye, has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on unemployment.

    Speaking with The Nation, Comrade Olasanoye said  the rate of unemployment was alarming, pointing out  that statistics  by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that over 27 million Nigerian youths were unemployed, while over 70 million people were under-employed.

    According to Olasanoye, the number is more than Ghana’s population and that of Benin Republic.

    “We are looking at a situation where we have a whole nation not employed in some other countries.”

    “So, we have over 27 million who live on less than a dollar per day, and we have over 70 million people under-employed; these are people who are working, but by international standard practice, earn far less than what they ought to.

    “This rate is alarming and notable Nigerians ought to talk about it. We understand that the government has done their bit to help Nigerians in reducing the state of unemployment in the country, but more needs to be done,” she said.

    She noted that Nigerians are suffering, and that the government should look at the issue more critically, adding that it is when the Federal Government declares a state of emergency on unemployment in the country that most unemployed youths would be employed.

    She said: “Young people entering the labour market today face the daunting task of first finding decent jobs and then keeping them when they do.

    “Unemployment rates are on the rise again. Indeed, two out of every five young women and men in the country are unemployed or working but living in poverty.

    “To be effective, however, government finances have to be in relatively good shape. Thus, as recession arrived since 2016, fiscal expansion should be implemented immediately, before the economic downturn itself leads to a significant worsening of the budget balance.

    “An example of such an approach is the Youth Guarantee programme, which was introduced in the European Union in 2014. It is intended to provide young people, who are neither working nor in education, with quality education, training or work. The Youth Guarantee is by its nature countercyclical, expanding during lows in the economic cycle when youth joblessness tends to rise”.

  • Nigeria not out of recession, union claims

    The National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees (NUSDE) has said reports by the government that Nigeria was on  its way out of recession were mere propaganda.

    At the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union in Owerri, the Imo State capital, NUSDE National President Kelly Ogbaloi said it would be wrong to accept that recession was no more when there had not been any reduction in prices of goods and services.

    He said: “It has to be made clear that recession cannot be ordinary calculations in figure and ‘maradonic’ statistics; it is something tangibly felt by every worker that lives in Nigeria.

    “It means true poverty, hunger, diseases and sickness. It is the denial of basic education, health care and other social services. It is the violation of the right and privileges of the working people as employers of labour now cut corners in the circumstance to beat the stronghold of recession, and thereby traumatise the workers and decent work escapes to oblivion.”

    Ogbaloi expressed concerns that workers’ children could not go to good school because of high fees, adding that staple food still remained unaffordable.

    He called on the government to be disposed to what the people need, noting that the communities and other bodies that elected them should see the government working well.

    According to him, political leadership was a framework for delivering benefits to the people, touching the life of the average citizen, affordability of good housing by the people and other infrastructure that make governance meaningful.

  • Union decries high rate of casualisation

    The National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) has expressed concern over what it described as the alarming rate of outsourcing and casualisation in the chemical sector.

    Its President, Goke Olatunji, said it was a deliberate attempt by some employers to prevent their employees from unionism.

    Emphasising that it was a trend that negates the ILO convention on rights of a worker, the NUCFRLANMPE chief said leaders of the union had, therefore, resolved at the National Administrative and Central Working Committee meeting held at the weekend in Sango Ota, Ogu State, to take on any erring employer.

    Olatunji said the union had written the employers on the need to respect labour laws and conventions.

    “We all understand the situation in the country and empathise with some of our employers, but most of them, irrespective of the situation in the country,are still breaking even and have failed to do what is lawful,” he said.

    Olatunji condemned the situation where Nigerians were being used as slaves in their country, while foreign employers repatriate all the benefits entitled to the workers to their own countries.

    He said the union would support the committee put in place by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to fight casualisation and other anti-worker policies in the workplace.

    “Nigerian workers are the ones oiling the machinery of this economy and are supposed to be treated fairly; a casual worker is underpaid, works several hours, is not entitled to any benefit whatsoever, all these must stop. Nigerian workers, irrespective of their standard, deserve to be treated fairly,” he said.

    The NUCFRLANMPE leader, however, praised all employers who have begun the implementation of the National Joint Industrial Committee agreement that was signed  some months ago.

    He also advised those yet to commence payment not to delay any further, while he maintained  that the issue of gratuities of union’s members would be vigorously pursued.

    Olatunji said the union, as a way of beating the present economic challenges and help some of its members already out of job, is diversifying into other investments that will further boost its financial capacity.

    “Right now, the only major source of income is through check-off dues. So, the meeting has called  for  the speedy completion of our on-going ultra-modern shopping complex project as well as fashion out ways of  going into small medium enterprises geared towards empowering members of the union,” he said.