The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Unions

  • FUNAAB council, unions meet

    Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Dr Aboki Zhawa, has set a six-month target to enhance the council’s relationship with unions in the institution.

    Zhawa spoke when he met with leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

    He said as leaders, they had to work together to promote the university’s growth.

    “If you can’t contribute to the system, don’t ground the system. God didn’t put you in that position to destroy, but to lead. If we must serve together, we must start leading together,” he said.

    On his part, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ololade Enikuomehin, lauded the Pro-Chancellor for mooting the idea of informal interactive session, adding that the University had never had such an opportunity.

    He said the Governing Council was desirous of providing a meeting point for the system to move forward.

    The Chairman, ASUU-FUNAAB, Dr Adebayo Oni, assured the Council and the University administration of the union’s commitment to collaborating with them to move FUNAAB to greater heights.

    However, he urged the Council to “ensure transparency, fairness and compliance with our extant laws”.

    Chairman, NAAT, Comrade Oluremi Olurinde, described the meeting by the council as starting well and prayed for the relationship to continue.

    “For us, these Council members are starting well and I pray you will end well. By the time this Council would be handing over, we shall all gather like this, to celebrate the achievements recorded,” he said.

    He however prayed the Council to stop to the practice of locking up laboratories by 4pm, as opposed to the practice of running laboratories 24 hours.

    NASU Chairman, Comrade Ishaq Odunjo, underscored the importance of peace, saying: “There is no doubt in it that we need peace, not only between unions, Management and Council, but also among the respective unions.”

    Similarly, SSANU Chairman, Comrade Rotimi Fasunwon, said it was rare for all the unions to come together, adding, “In my 14 to 15 years of working in this University, I have never partaken in this kind of programme”.

    Other members of council present lauded the meeting, which they said provided a platform for reconciliation and unity.

  • NLC leadership tours affiliate unions

    NLC leadership tours affiliate unions

    •Leadership crisis rocks NUBIFIE

    The Ayuba Wabba-led Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has embarked on assessment tour of affiliate unions.

    Wabba said the  visit would boost the affiliates’confidence and assure them that they are not being left alone.

    He said: “Our movement can prosper in unity if we keep the tradition of unity. We are not unmindful of all the challenges that our workers are going through, such issues as unpaid salaries and allowances.”

    He said so far, the NLC leadership has visited the National Union of Hotels Personal Services Workers (NUHPSW), the Agriculture and Allied Employees Union of Nigeria (AAEUN), the National Union of Academic Technologists (NAAT), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NILGE) and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

    He said the union took the step when crisis was tearing the leadership of the NLC affiliates apart.

    The National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) has been engulfed in leadership crisis with two factions emerging. While one is based in Lagos, the other is in Abuja.

    The NUBIFIE crisis might not be unconnected with the difference between the NLC and the United Labour Congress (ULC). While the National leadership operating from Lagos and led by  Comrade Danjuma Musa, was trying to pull out NUBIFIE from the NLC to join the ULC, the Abuja faction, led by Comrade Godling Litkang, said Danjuma, his treasurer and General Secretary have been suspended from the union.

    The crisis has led to the arrest and detention of Comrade Danjuma by the Police for a week in Abuja, but later released through the intervention of Wabba.

  • Arrears: Unions vow to shut down MDAs

    Organised Labour under the aegis of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), will  shut down  Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) at the federal level unless the government pays promotion arrears, outstanding salaries and other allowances owed public servants in the next few weeks.

    Giving this indication in Lagos on Tuesday, the ASCSN Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, regretted that more than a year after the promotion arrears were computed by a Presidential Committee and report submitted to the Presidency, the government has continued to ‘dilly-dally’ on the payment.

    “The issue of unpaid entitlements of workers have remained unattended to for some years now and was indeed brought to the attention of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buahri, sometimes ago for necessary action.

    “Thereafter, a circular was issued by the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation directing all MDAs to compile the total sum involved in respect of the unpaid entitlements of their employees for settlements,” the union added.

    According to Lawal, the debts owed some categories of federal public officers include promotion arrears outstanding in some cases since 2007; first 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation; and Duty Tour Allowance (DTA).

    Others are mandatory training allowance for training organised by the Office of the Head of the Federation (OHCSF) in 2010, burial expenses, and repatriation allowances, among others.

    “He said the reason for this statement is to alert the general public that the nation may be witnessing series of industrial actions in the public service if no concrete steps are taken to commence the payment of these indebtedness as the general feeling amongst workers is that government is not prepared at all to pay what it is owing them and that its only interest is to pay what it owes contractors.

    “Moreover, the Federal Government had bailed out state governments more than three times in the past one year including the recent one courtesy of the loan refund from the Paris Club to be able to settle their workers’ entitlements.  The same Federal Government has decided to leave its own workers in the cold for no just reason.  This is strange,” he said.

  • Unions seek reversal of petrol pump price to N87 per litre

    Unions seek reversal of petrol pump price to N87 per litre

    THE National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the National Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners & Riders Association (NACTOMORAS) have urged the Federal Government to revert to the old pump price of N87 per litre of petrol.
    They reminded President Muhammadu Buhari that it was the grassroots people that voted him into power and hence he should feel their pains “or another time is coming”.
    The associations while making presentations yesterday before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on the review of the pump price of petrol, headed by Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe, said in spite of the increases in petrol pump price, the country has ended up with “bad roads, power failure, unemployment, poverty, as well as medical care deterioration and high inflation of essential commodities”.
    NURTW President Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin, who was represented by Mercy Ibeh of the union’s legal department, kicked against any planned hike in pump price and said the association rather preferred a downward review of the petrol price.
    NACTOMORAS National President Alhaji Muhd Sani Hassan said: “We write to object, reject and disagree with any plan or move to increase the pump price of PMS fuel, without leniency, sympathy or consideration of the already depleted economic realities being experienced in the country.”
    The association said hardship was being “meted out to millions of Nigerians, most especially our members, who are the grassroots transporters, with population of over 13,793,150 in the country”.
    Hassan said of the fuel increments made by government since 1973, only the one of 1994 benefitted the masses through the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) projects.
    “Therefore, if the government wanted to maintain its good name, it should abandon the idea of increase of the price and revert to the old price of N87.00 per litre.”

  • Unions seek inclusion of workers’ interests in PIB

    Unions seek inclusion of workers’ interests in PIB

    Oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Workers (NUPENG) have called on the National Assembly to include workers’ interests in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) undergoing the process of being passed at the National Assembly.

    The unions made the call in a memorandum submitted to the Joint Senate Committee on PIGB at a public hearing on the Bill in Abuja. They based their memorandum on five major policy broad thrusts which are: transparency and accountability, fiscal terms,     institutional framework (minister, regulator and commercial entities), refinery and other downstream activities, and labour issues and membership of institutions, boards and committees.

    “The position of the NUPENG and PENGASSAN is that wherever matters concerning or connected with the workers such as interalia:  remuneration, pension, welfare, transfer and deployment are mentioned, the unions (PENGASSAN and NUPENG) must be involved and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) must be respected and clearly included in the law,” the unions stated in the memorandum.

    According to the two oil and gas in-house trade unions in their memorandum titled: “PENGASSAN’s Position on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2016”, the bill will determine the future of Nigerian oil and gas industry, as well as the Nigerian workers.

    The unions said: “This is more so as the bill contains provisions about staff transfers from the NNPC and other impacted government agencies. The bill also plans to change the ownership structure of the government establishments in the petroleum sector, including asset sales and eventual divestments.

    “Clearly, the PIGB is intended to privatise as much as it is practicable, government’s interest in the petroleum sector. This, if not carefully handled, will lead to serious labour issues.

    “There are also additional challenges posed by repeals of existing laws as some of the Acts establishing the government agencies except for Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) will be repealed by the PIGB.

    “The position of the PENGASSAN and NUPENG is that staff of the NNPC and all other agencies that will be impacted by the PIGB must NOT lose their jobs or be allowed to be transferred on terms and condition of service that are less favourable than what they currently have under any guise.”

    The unions noted that a major challenge that will confront the workers in the organisations and agencies that will be impacted by the PIGB, especially the National Petroleum Company, is the transition from a more socially focused organisation to a profit-focused organisation.

  • Don’t privatise water, unions advise govt

    Members of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), in collaboration with Public Services International (PSI) and Environmental Right Action (ERA), have cautioned against privatising water.

    The unions said water is a right, which cannot be priced.They urged the public to oppose the proposal, adding that the situation might compound what they described as the “global water supply crisis”.

    In a statement by AUPCTRE President, Adelegan Solomon and General Secretary Yusuf Zambuk, the union said: “We have been voicing out our concerns for the broken promises of water privatisation under the guise of Public-Private Partnership (PPPs). This is because PPPs are more concerned about profits maximisation, which is imperative of the private sector.

    “These broken promises include but not limited to corruption, lack of transparency,  contract and financial manipulation, poor service quality; under-investment, unsustainable and unbearable tariffs, which will make water inaccessible to the majority of the citizenry and inadequate financing.”

    The statement said as a result of these obvious realities, more cities and governments are bringing water back to public hands, not only in Africa, but also in the global north.

    The unions warned that  while maximising profits under PPP or privatisation, the public is made to drink unsafe water and become vulnerable to water-related diseases, such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid fever. These result to mass deaths and also make governments spend more in providing health services to the citizenry.

    To improve the effectiveness of one partner in providing public water supply and or sanitation services, the unions suggested a Public-Public Partnership (PuP) as an alternative to the Public–Private-Partnership arrangement.

    “To us, PUP means an alternative to the PPP, which is Public-Public Partnership. PuPs are peer relationships forged around common values or interests and objectives, which exclude profit seeking. The absence of commercial considerations allows public partners to re-invest all available resources into the development of local capacity, to build a mutual trust which translates into long term capacity gains, and to incur low transaction costs, the unions said.

    According to them, the comparative advantage of PUPs over PPPs extends to more ample opportunities for replication and scaling up.

  • Unions protest ‘payment shortfalls’ at UI

    Unions protest ‘payment shortfalls’ at UI

    Academic and administrative activities were yesterday disrupted at the University of Ibadan (UI) as the non-academic staff unions continued their warning strike to demand full payment of salaries and arrears from January to date.

    The workers said they have been collecting incomplete salaries since January due to shortfall in allocations from the Federal Government to the institution.

    The unions ordered their members to go home last Friday after holding a joint congress at the university entrance gate, forcing people to trek to their destinations.

    However, in a post on the social media, the university’s Bursar, Michael Alatise, said the university has now received payment of shortfalls covering January to April.

    He added that Vice Chancellor Prof. Idowu Olayinka, had directed that the money be paid.

    “I am pleased to inform the university community that we have received fund to pay salary shortfalls for January to April 2016. The fund came on Saturday July 30, 2016. The VC has directed prompt payment of these shortfalls,” Alatise said.

    But the workers still put major offices in the university under lock and keys. Postgraduate lectures held under special arrangements as the people to open lecture halls resumed at their union congress conducted at the main entrance of the institution.

    As early as 7am on Monday, the Joint Action Congress of Senior Staff of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) stormed the gate for a joint congress and locked the gate.

    Due to traffic snarl at the Agbowo end of the university, people were forced to park their vehicles and trek inside the school. But the gate was opened in the after noon.

    The strike impacted on few faculties left with undergraduate examinations.

    Movements within, into and outside the school were hampered.

    The unions said they were forced to take the latest action, owing to the university administration’s failure to yield to the demand of commencing full payment of salaries by July ending and arrears of shortfalls from December 2015 to June 2016.

     

     

     

  • Most govt agreements with unions unimplementable, says Ngige

    Most govt agreements with unions unimplementable, says Ngige

    Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige has said some of the agreements entered into by government with labour unions  are not implementable due to dwindling national resources.

    The minister, who spoke when he recovered new leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) led by its President, Prof. Mike Ogirima, called for a review of some of those agreements in the interest of industrial peace and harmony.

    The minister said: “I have gone through previous agreements and discovered that because budgetary provisions were not made for so many of the resolutions agreed upon with the past administrations, the present government finds it difficult to implement. I will therefore advise that previous agreements be revisited so that those that are practicable would be implemented now.

    “The NMA being the topmost association in the health sector should engage in constant interface with affiliate bodies in other to achieve a holistic review of all previous agreements in a manner that reflects the nation’s present economic situation. We must face the reality that government earnings have plunged to about 25 per cent of what they were under previous administrations.”

    Ngige challenged the NMA to restore the nobility of the medical profession for which civilisations equated doctors with being next to God, adding that the comment by the President that the image of the Nigerian doctors has fared badly of late was a source of concern.

    “We must restore the nobility of this profession for which most civilizations regard medical doctors as being next to God. The President remarked recently that the image of the Nigerian doctors has fared badly lately and I agree with him. Some of us hardly abide by the Hippocratic oaths that we took. Time therefore calls for a new beginning. This newly elected EXCO has very big task ahead.”

    Ogirima told the minister that the new leadership of the NMA has keyed into the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He said: “NMA is not a labour union, we are a professional body and that’s why when NLC called unions out recently, we did not join because we take care of essential services.”

  • OAU unions row over VC selection

    There is apprehension at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, over the selection of a new Vice Chancellor (VC).

    On the one hand is the quarrel of the unions over their roles in the selection process; on the other hand is the allegation that the outgoing VC, Prof Bamitale Omole, is scheming to place his stooge in the exalted office.

    The selection process for a new VC to succeed Omole who leaves on June 24, began last December.

    At the close of advertisements on January 26, 11 candidates had applied.

    A four-member search team constituted in January was reportedly unsuccessful in wooing any of the 39 candidates it contacted for the job.  Of the 39 candidates, 36 reportedly declined, while the remaining three did not apply.

    The university’s Governing Council, chaired by Prof Roland Udoma Egba, met from March 8-11 to consider the 11 applications submitted.

    It decided on selection criteria used to generate a scoring system to rank the applicants.  Six applicants were, through this process recommended, for interview.

    A source alleged that the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Prof Ayobami Salami, rumoured to be favoured by Omole and the Council, scored 100 per cent.

    The others, Prof A. A. Akindahunsi, Prof E. O. Ogunmodede, Prof I. O. Aina, Prof E. A. Akinlo and Prof A. Akinyoku (all from OAU), and Prof Akindahunsi and Prof Akinyoku, both from the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) trailed behind.

    The source claimed that Omole seeks Salami to replace him for selfish reasons.

    “This Omole administration is (by a letter dated February 8) being summoned by the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) to furnish the accounts of Internally Generated Revenue of the University and its utilisation from January 2011 to December 31, 2015.

    “What has been done therefore is an attempt to further undermine the laws of the university and impose a favoured but less qualified candidate on the university community, who has been part of the process under current investigation. It is very obvious that the selection process had been highly compromised to achieve selfish motives,” the source said.

    The source also faulted the ranking process adopted by the council without interviewing the candidates.

    “It should be of interest that the interview will also be chaired by the same Pro-Chancellor who had already chaired the meeting where the applicants were incongruously ranked.

    “The laws of the University do not vest the power to rank applicants for the position of a new vice-chancellor on the Council. It only allows the Council to ‘draw up a short list of suitable candidates for the post for consideration’ by the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board,” the source alleged.

    However, debunking the allegations, the Public Relations Officer, Mr Biodun Olarewaju, said Omole has not been summoned by any committee and is not supporting any candidate.  He also absolved the council of blame.

    “It is not true that the VC is trying to scheme for anybody to replace him.  I am not aware of any scheming by the VC to be replaced by the DVC.  It is the duty of the council to choose a vice chancellor.  And they are doing it to the best of their knowledge.  I know the Pro-Chancellor is an erudite scholar and he will not do anything to jeopardize his constituency,” he said.

    On the part of the unions, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University, (SSANU) and Non- Academic Staff Union of University and Allied institutions, (NASU), OAU chapters, have accused the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of colluding with the Council and Omole to impose their candidate on the university.

    In a statement jointly signed by the SSANU Chairman, Comrade Ademola Oketunde, and NASU, Comrade Wole Odewumi, the unions alleged that the ASUU chairman, Dr Caleb Aborisade’s failure to refute a publication alleging a quarrel among the unions on the selection issue showed he was complicit.

    The statement reads:” On 24 March, 2016 at about 6.30am, the OAU ASUU Chairman telephoned the SSANU Chairman to inform him about a publication in that day’s Nigerian Tribune titled ‘Appointment of VC: OAU ASUU disagrees with NASU, SSANU’, which stated that: ‘Worried by the agitation by NASU and SSANU for input into the processes leading to the appointment of the next Vice-Chancellor (VC), ASUU in a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Caleb Aborisade, faulted the move, saying that the appointment of a VC falls strictly within the purview of the appointing authorities, namely, the Governing Council.’ He (Aborisade) denied and dissociated himself from the publication and promised to write a rejoinder. He did not do so.”

    SSANU and NASU claim that a planned interactive session between ASUU and the short listed candidates to hold on April 4, 2016, contradicts Aborisade’s claim that he had no interest in the selection process.

    “A publication in The Nation of 28 March, 2016 titled ‘OAU ASUU to screen candidates for VC position’ stated that ASUU would facilitate interaction with the shortlisted aspirants, indicating that it had endorsed the illegal short listing by Council. This contradicts the earlier publication in which Dr. Aborisade was quoted as saying that the appointment of a VC falls strictly within the purview of Council. Besides, what purpose will the interaction serve after Council had unlawfully shortlisted, scored and ranked the aspirants contrary to the stipulated Status and Laws, and without any interaction with them (under Dr. Aborisade’s watchful eyes)?; Meanwhile, their preferred aspirant was allegedly awarded a perfect 100 per cent score.  Before Dr. Aborisade emerged as Chairman, ASUU (and other Unions) used to conduct a referendum for lawfully shortlisted aspirants and send the results to Council for input (prior to interview, scoring and ranking by the joint Council and Senate Selection Board.”

    The two leaders said NASU and SSANU would continue to seek the interest of the university system with or without Aborisade’s support.

     

  • Transport unions to establish health centres at parks

    Some transport unions in Lagos State have reiterated their plans to establish health centres in motor parks to ensure that their members are healthy.

    Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede and Alhaji Musa Mohammed, Lagos State Chairmen of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers’ Association (RTEAN) made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday.

    They said the decision to establish the centres was prompted by a report of the Lagos State Government in 2015 that most commercial drivers diagnosed, had high blood pressure and other related diseases.

    “We have always taken the health care of our members paramount and had been sensitising them on their health as well as inviting health personnel at some of our gatherings to check their health status.

    “We hope to build standard centres with qualified medical personnel to work in them,” Agbede said.

    He said that the health centres would also help passengers because there were instances when pregnant women put to bed at the parks.

    Mohammed, on his part, said that establishing the centres at motor parks was very `essential and important.’

    He said that most commercial bus drivers found it difficult to create time and check their health at hospitals, but instead, preferred to take herbs and concoctions.

    “RTEAN conducts routine health check on drivers; we hope to intensify regular check on drivers before they embark on journeys as this would help reduce accidents.

    “Most accidents occurred due to fatigue or high blood pressure triggered by the deplorable condition of roads or longer hours on the wheels.

    “The need for health centres is not only for our drivers, but also passengers; on many occasions, we attend to sick people or women going into labour at the park, so there is need for the centres,” Mohammed said.

    Lagos State government last Thursday disclosed that over 99 per cent of commercial bus drivers are hypertensive. A condition, it said, could partly be attributed to the traffic congestion in the state.

    Mr Dayo Mobereola, the State’s Commissioner for Transportation, who was represented at a forum by the Director of Transportation, Planning, Policy and Coordination, Dr Olufemi Salam, gave this indication.