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Tag: workers

  • Review workers’ salaries, govt told

    The General Secretary, National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Issa Aremu, has urged the Federal Government to set in motion the machinery to review the  minimum wage of N18,000.

    Aremu said it was not too late for a supplementary review of the budget to accommodate the salary review.

    He said the expectation of labour was  beyond paying workers on time, adding that its expectation is that government should set in motion the machinery for the review of the existing minimum wage.

    “The best way to stimulate the economy is through improved wage income for the working people. Workers’ pay goes to basic goods such as food, rent, transport and clothes which is good for the business of the real sector that produces such products and survives.

    “I have no doubt that the NLC leadership will soon constructively engage the Buhari administration on the need for the new minimum wage,’’ Aremu said.

  • NPC, Osun partner on workers’ productivity

    The  Director-General of  the National Productivity Centre (NPC), Alhaji Kashim Akor,  has spoken of plans to establish  a branch in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

    He spoke when Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, visited the NPC head office in Abuja.

    He said the centre would key into the governor’s programmes in ensuring accelerated human resources development and capacity building for the Osun public service.

    Akor disclosed that the  governor’s visit was the first of its kind by a serving governor in the history of the centre.

    “The NPC would help in building the capacity of the state workforce and organisations through training and installation of Productivity and Quality Improvement Programme (P&QIP).

    “We would also want your assistance in the establishment of a state productivity committee in units in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state as well as in providing airtime on Osun Radio and Television for dissemination of productivity messages,” he said.

    Governor Aregbesola stressed the importance of the NPC in making  the workforce efficient and proactive in service delivery.

    He said he would actively engage the centre in making  the state civil service productive toward achieving  the All Progressives Congress (APC) change agenda.

  • NOSDRA seeks field workers’ protection

    NOSDRA seeks field workers’ protection

    The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) yesterday urged the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)  to provide security cover for the agency’s field workers.

    Its Director –General, Peter Idabor who spoke during a visit to the Commandant General of NSCDC, Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, said the agency finds it difficult to carryout field work because of the presence of criminals.

    Idabor, therefore called for synergy between the two agencies as an effective means of tackling the challenges of pipeline vandalism and artisanal refineries.

    He said: “We are not an armed organisation so we are just like civilians. It becomes very difficult for us when we are out in the field we are confronted by armed individuals who are stealing the nation’s oil well and in most cases we withdraw our staff.

  •  Bello assures Niger workers of prompt salary payment

    Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has assured the entire state work force of regular and prompt payment of their salary and allowances despite the lingering economic downturn.

    According to him, if it takes his government to borrow in view of the economic downturn to pay workers salary and allowances, he is ready to do it stressing that the payment of workers their dues is a first line priority of his administration.

    Speaking in Minna Wednesday during a farewell ceremony of the former Chief Judge of the state, the Governor said, “Under no circumstance should we deprive our workers, even if we have to borrow in view of the economic downturn to pay workers salary and allowances, we will do so. Payment of workers their dues is a first line priority of this administration”.

    The governor said this development informed his decision to approve the release of funds for the renovation of Court rooms in the state, as well as ensure the prompt payment of workers, including the judicial workers of their salary and allowances since he assumed office.

    “Our strong believe in the welfare of our Judges informed the various renovations carried out in some courts recently. We also make sure that our five newly appointed High Court Judges were provided with cars and befitting accommodation.”

    He commended the efforts of the retiring Chief Judge, Justice Fati Lami Abubakar in lifting the judiciary and instilling discipline in the sector.

  • Allocation-for-salary: Will it benefit Oyo workers?

    Allocation-for-salary: Will it benefit Oyo workers?

    Labour has reached an agreement with Oyo State Government that the total monthly allocations be devoted to salary payment.Workers are excited; government is also at peace. BISI OLADELE looks at the possible threats to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

    When organised labour issued a seven-day ultimatum to Oyo State  Government last March 29 over salary arrears, it set the stage for a possible showdown over the matter.

    The ultimatum was issued in Ibadan the state capital, by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiation Council (JNC).

    The NLC Chairman, Comrade Waheed Olojede, announced the ultimatum at a press briefing,  warning that government workers would down tools if the government fails to dialogue with them within the given period.

    He said the unions had considered the prevailing condition of workers and pensioners, who were being owed five months salaries then and the government’s alleged failure to accede to previous requests.

    Olojede said the situation had pauperised workers, adding that their productivity, diligence and commitment would be hinged on how they are treated.

    “If government fails to meet the leadership of the labour movement in the state, we may not be able to guarantee continued industrial peace beyond the stipulated time,” he said.

    But while sympathising with workers, the government, in a quick response, decried the ultimatum, saying it ran contrary to last year’s agreement signed by both parties on how salaries would be paid.

    A statement by Mr Yomi Layinka, the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, said: “To say the least, the unfortunate situation (of inability to pay salaries) foisted on the country by the dwindling accruals from oil, the country’s major source of revenue, is a major concern to all and it is highly regrettable.

    “While the government empathises with workers and pensioners over the attendant inability to pay salaries and other emoluments as it usually did in the past, we solicit continued understanding of labour over the matter.

    “Meanwhile, it is important to note that leadership of the labour unions and the state government have had a very robust understanding on this matter long before now, following which an agreement was signed on the modality for the payment of salaries as finances are available.

    “Indeed, the options of reduced salaries and reduction in an otherwise bloated workforce were considered but deferred in concession to the workers; instead a staggered salary payment strategy was proposed by labour and acceded to by government.

    “To this end, it was agreed that about 90 per cent of income accruing from the state’s monthly allocation from the Federation Account should be dedicated to the workers while the remaining 10 per cent would be deployed to the running of other aspects of governance.

    “Till date, the state government has not reneged on the letter and spirit of that agreement.  The ultimatum issued by labour is, therefore, not only surprising but also unnecessary and uncalled for in the prevailing circumstance.”

    The following day, the two parties met to iron out their differences.

    After the meeting, the leader of the government team, Mr Olalekan Alli, explained that both parties were already reaching a truce, adding that labour leaders had apologised for acting in ways that breached last year’s agreement.

    Alli, who is a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), advised labour leaders to refrain from threats and ultimatum that run against the spirit and letter of the agreement to use about 90 per cent of federal allocation accruing to the state for salaries.

    Alli said: “At the meeting (on Friday) the state government re-affirmed its compliance with the subsisting agreement with labour whereby 90 per cent of allocation from the Federation Account is devoted to payment of salaries and wages of workers on monthly basis.

    “The government also observed that the present conduct of labour was at variance and in total disregard for due process, labour law and practice. In view of the foregoing, the government believes that labour is being insensitive and confrontational.

    “However, the labour leaders denied the allegations and apologised accordingly. It further assured the government of its co-operation and maintenance of industrial harmony in the state.”

    The former SSG said the apology has been accepted by the government and the governor has consequently directed that the subsisting agreement be adhered to pending the exploration by the government and labour of further avenues to improve the revenue of the state.

    Alli added that the Friday meeting reached a consensus that the 10-month old agreement between labour and government subsists and that the government had no intention of reneging on any term of the said agreement.

    In the spirit of collective responsibility, he stated that both parties also agreed to collaborate and evolve ways of blocking all financial leakages in the system with a view to jacking up the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state.

    “That all financial leakages need to be jointly and urgently plugged by employing strategies including elimination of ghost workers from the salary bill of our workers as well as identification, arrest and prosecution of fraudsters within the system.

    “That a more positive and creative disposition is critical for turning around these times of adversity. It was resolved that all concerned should have learnt some lessons after this brief period of unnecessary and avoidable altercation,” the former SSG said.

    But the meeting could not placate workers. They insisted on meeting with the governor before the expiration of the ultimatum.

    Ajimobi finally joined them on Thursday for a final meeting during which a review of the former agreement was undertaken. The new agreement that evolved from the meeting ceded 100 per cent of the state’s federal allocation to payment of workers’ salaries.

    The state government, however, declined request by the labour leaders that the IGR also be used to complement the federal allocation where there is a shortfall.

    But the governor agreed to the setting up of the Joint Revenue Mobilisation Committee which will draw membership from both labour and government. The committee is to identify areas of wastages and plug them with a view to increasing the state’s IGR.

    It was further agreed that incremental difference in the future would be shared by both the government and labour to shore up funds for salaries.

    The committee is to be supervised by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.

    It was also agreed that the MoU would be reviewed time and again as situation demands.

    Addressing reporters on the outcome of the meeting, Olojede said: “In our critical review, we discovered that devoting 90 per cent of Federal Government allocation to payment of salaries could not stand the test of time, because salaries kept running into arrears. We then agreed that henceforth, the entire 100 per cent of whatever comes from Abuja as federal allocation would be spent to pay workers salaries.”

    The new deal has been hailed by workers, according to Olojede as it raised their hope of getting salaries more regularly.

    The labour leader also revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had offered states with salary issues a moratorium of 20 years, meaning that deductions from allocations of those states would be stopped or reduced to the minimum to allow them a lease of life for the moment.

     

  • Oyo workers happy with new govt deal

    Oyo workers happy with new govt deal

    The Chairman, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Oyo State, Waheed Olojede, spoke yesterday of workers’ excitement with the new deal of using the state’s federal allocation for payment of salaries.

    Olojede, who spoke with our correspondent yesterday, said he had been receiving telephone calls from workers since Friday, thanking him and members of his negotiating team for getting such a good deal from the government.

    The NLC chairman explained that dialogue remained an effective tool in getting good welfare for workers without necessarily being confrontational.

    The labour leader expressed satisfaction with the new deal, saying it would go far in ameliorating the negative impact of lack of salaries for workers.

    Organised Labour and the government met three times last week to resolve the logjam created by a seven-day ultimatum issued to the government.

    Both parties agreed on a review of the previous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which led to another agreement of using the entire monthly allocation for salaries.

    Addressing reporters on the outcome of the meeting, Olojede said: “In our critical review, we discovered that devoting 90 per cent of Federal Government allocation to payment of salaries could not stand the test of time, because salaries kept running into arrears.

    “We then agreed that henceforth, the entire 100 per cent of whatever comes from Abuja as federal allocation would be spent to pay workers salaries.”

    He said the new agreement raises hope of payment of some of the arrears soon.

  • Dickson, Bayelsa Speaker get knocks for lawmakers’, workers’ plight

    Dickson, Bayelsa Speaker get knocks for lawmakers’, workers’ plight

    The Bayelsa First Initiative (BFI) has blasted Governor Seriake Dickson and House of Assembly Speaker Kombowei Benson for failing to swear in the lawmakers elected on the platform of opposition parties.

    The alleged ill-treatment of the three opposition members drew the ire of BFI, a group of former elected and appointed political office holders.

    It accused Dickson of conspiring with the Assembly’s leadership, led by Benson, to stop the swearing-in of the three lawmakers.

    The members are: Watson Belemote, of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), representing Brass 2; Gibson Munalayefa, of the Labour Party (LP), Ogbia 2 and Gabriel Ogbara, of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ogbia 3.

    They were declared winners two months ago by the Appeal Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    But the Assembly’s leadership, dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ignored them and inaugurated their party members, who won rerun in March.

    The aggrieved members sent a protest letter to the leadership of the National Assembly and the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), urging them to stop the impunity.

    BFI’s Executive Director Chief Nathan Egba condemned the ‘’anti-democratic’’ stance of Dickson and Benson.

    The activist warned that the governor’s continued failure to prevail on the Assembly’s leadership to swear in the three minority party members signalled a danger for the state.

    He said the state was setting a bad precedent, which future Assembly could also follow.

    Egba described Dickson’s alleged directive to his Special Adviser on Treasury Matters, Mr Seipulo, to remove over 500 civil servants from the payroll for allegedly supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship poll, as the worst decision of any governor.

    He said most of Dickson’s policies and statements, following his controversial re-election, was dividing residents.

    Egba said: “For instance, do the governor and the Assembly leadership think the people of Brass 2 as well as Ogbia 2 and 3 will be happy with the administration for shutting them out of the legislative process for almost a year?

    “We call on rulers, non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations, lawyers, particularly the AGF, and that of Bayelsa State as well as the leadership of the National Assembly, to prevail on Governor Dickson and the leadership of the House of Assembly to do the right thing.”

  • Workers, firm clash over union membership

    Workers, firm clash over union membership

    Workers of GMT Nigeria Limited, a logistics, clearing and forwarding company at Wharf, Apapa, Lagos, yesterday protested against being denied the right to join the Maritime Workers Union (MWU), an affiliate of the Nigerian labour Congress (NLC).

    Armed with placards, they blocked the company’s entrance.

    The inscriptions on their placards are “No union, no work”; “Maritime Workers Union has taken possession. Beware”; “GMT Nig Ltd, do not deprive your workers of their fundamental right of association; GMT Nig Ltd, get serious”; “We say no to slavery”; “We belong to Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria”; “We are Nigerians, allow us to join the union of our choice”.

    The workers, according to Comrade Uche Onu, President of the Maritime Workers Union, Shipping Branch, have applied to become members of the union and they have been accepted. But the management of the company, he said, is denying them their membership.

    Onu said: “The workers appealed for membership of the Maritime Workers Union, and the MWU, after screening their application and considering them worthy to become its members, they were placed in Shipping Branch where they belong. Letters have been written to the company informing them of this and we also informed the management that we were going to do inauguration of our new members. They were told in writing that these people are our members and we are coming to inaugurate them on a particular date. On January 15, we came here to inaugurate them and sent letters of the inaugurated workers to the management. The management acknowledged the letter by writing us that they do not agree to them belonging to the Maritime Workers Union; neither did they give us an alternative union where they think they should belong to.

    “We wrote them another letter that at the end of February salary payment, the check off dues of members should be deducted according to the law and paid to Maritime Workers Union in cheque. They wrote us through a lawyer that they would not do so. The workers intended to protest but I told them not to protest because we have rules and regulations; so we had to write the management again giving them a seven-day notice to pay our check off dues which we believe they must have deducted.

    “We don’t know why the management does not want unionism but what we know is that management of GMT, especially the owner, is saying that he would not want to talk to any union and he does not want any of his workers to associate with any union. That is what we have heard but we cannot confirm it because it is not written to us.”

    The workers said they would not stop the protest until their demands were met.

    “We have been here since 5am and we would not leave until the management listens to us and we also would not allow any activity to take place here and at their airport base. The man (the founder of the company) should come and speak to us. If we don’t hear from them, we would increase the tempo of our protest”’ they said.

    GMT Human Resource Manager, Vivian Daniel said she is unaware of the workers’ demand to join any union.

    “I am not going to make any comment because I am not aware of their agitation to join the union,” she said.

  • How petrol scarcity is affecting workers, by NLC

    Labour yesterday highlighted the woes workers are passing through as a result of the ongoing scarcity of petrol.

    Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba said the crisis has affected workers productivity adversely nationwide.

    He said: “If you look at the scenario it is a reoccurring decimal, people are facing serious fuel challenges from one day to the other.

    “This is affecting productivity, it also put workers on unnecessary and undue pressure because you know that the salary is fixed.

    “Anytime there is an increase in any commodity either power or petroleum product certainly it deplete that available income at the disposal of the worker.

    “So, it is workers that are at the receiving end and in that way you can see that the workers will begin to come late and the management will say you are coming late without making a redress on the alarm factor.

    “Those are the clear issues and I think that government must look at the policies and tackle the situation head long,’’ he said.

    He said government must fashion out medium and long term measures that would fixed the problem holistically.

    He noted that the issue of fuel scarcity had been on since 1999 and there was need for drastic action to be taken.

    “It means that the prescription for solving the fuel situation cannot take us to the promise land.

    “Then if it cannot take us to the promise land, why should we continue to do just a quick fix on this very major issue?’’

    Wabba, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the refineries should be made functional to remove untold hardship the people are going through and to boost the economy.

    He said that the NLC had done an extensive research on the four refineries and findings revealed that the refineries could still be classified as new ones.According to him, some of the refineries around the world are built in 1981, saying there is an Indian refinery that has stayed for over 100 years.

    “The argument that the four refineries in the country cannot meet our domestic needs is false.

    “We have seen refineries that have lower capacity but through the process of upgrading and upgrading the capacity of refining were able to meet locally and international needs.

    “So, if Kaduna refinery can be upgraded, Port Harcourt refinery, among others, their capacity of refining can also be upgraded and with adequate maintenance these refineries can work for over a 100 years.

    “It is just that we are not doing what is right. That is why they are referring to our refineries as scrap.

    “They want to buy and upgrade them in that way monopolising them.

    “So, the argument is flat that is why we have remained consistent on our position that once we get the policies right, then it will be okay for us to move forward,’’ he said.

    Wabba gave an instance of Chevron multinational oil company that had been in Nigeria for many years but did not have a refinery in the country.

    He noted that Chevron had refineries in Singapore even when that country did not have oil.

    He explained that “what Chevron does is to transfer our oil from Nigeria to Singapore and refine it there and bring it back as a refine product for us to buy. “So, we are then paying the transportation back and front and the cost of refining the product, this is the scenario.

    “So, why is so difficult for them to build those refineries in Nigeria where they are doing production for over 30 and 40 years.

    “This is because of corruption. The Federal Government must wake up,’’ he said.

    But Group Executive Director, Commercial and Investment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Babatunde Adeniran, said yesterday that the fuel crisis will soon be over.

    Speaking in Benin after monitoring the sales of petrol in filling stations, he said: “Nobody is happy with what is happening despite all the efforts we have put in place. The bottom line is the amount of forex available. The problem is not peculiar to Nigeria. Refineries in Europe are changing their configuration from winter to summer.

    “Our Refineries are coming up. We can now supply crude to Port Harcourt and Warri. We are making effort to push crude to Kaduna refinery. To push crude to Kaduna will take about 10 days. They are warming up already in Kaduna to receive crude.”

    In Benin yesterday, petrol was being sold for N250 per litre. The NNPC Mega filling stations had not dispensed petrol for over four days.

    Adeniran noted that other Group Executive Directors of the NNPC visited other parts of the country to get first hand information about sales and distribution of fuel.

    He said he had gone round and noticed long queues at some filling stations e not dispensing products.

    Adeniran listed causes of the fuel scarcity to include inadequate forex, configuring refineries abroad from winter to summer and pipeline vandalism.

    He urged Nigerians to bear with the corporation as according to him, “fuel will soon be available as soon as we have this summer configuration which is peculiar to Nigeria needs”.

    The NNPC chief added:  ”I have seen long queue and see where they are selling and where they are not selling. It is a situation that is not palatable”.

  • Sack fever grips workers in meter manufacturing firms

    Fear of job loss is rife among local meter manufacturing companies  following their inability to produce at optimal level, The Nation has learnt.

    It was gathered that the firms, which have been sidelined by the power distribution companies (DisCos) in procurement of the locally manufactured meters, are said to have commenced pruning of their workforce.

    It was further gathered that many of the firms have sacked hundreds of workers, due to what they described as the ‘low patronage’  recorded in the history of manufacturing of meters in the country.

    While many of the workers were asked to leave pending when the companies’ production and sales pick up, others were directed by their managements to work part-time.

    The Chief Executive Officer, MOMAS Nigeria Limited, a local meter manufacturing firm, Kola Abalogun, said many of the firms in the  electricity sector are in dire strait, due to problems such as poor funding, low patronage  and the government’s refusal to come to their aid through an effective policy that will induce demand of their products.

    Balogun lamented that the meter manufacturing firms are hard hit because they are  being negleted by the DisCos.

    He said many of the DisCos are not buying meters from the local manufacturers, despite the fact that they produce meters that can compete favorably with the ones imported from abroad.

    He said:  “For MOMAS, we have downsised. We have sacked some of our workers because there is no way we can continue to pay their salaries when a lot of meters are stocked in the store waiting endlessly for buyers.

    “We have told them that many of the workers would be recalled or more employed in the event that activity picks up again in the sub-sector. This is the situation on ground. I cannot speak for other manufacturers. But I believe that we are all having one challenge or the other. The major one is that many of the DisCos are not buying meters from us.”

    He said only one DisCo, or two buy meters from MOMAS, saying the issue of power supply remains a challenge as the firms cannot continue to run on generators and survive.