The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba has said the Organised Labour is ready to put political leaders on the right path through its actions and negotiations.
At the inauguration of the guest house of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Products Employers (NUCFRLANMPE), at Ijoko, Sango-Ota in Ogun, Wabba urged the federal and state governments to urgently look into the plight of Nigerian workers because of the spiraling inflation and grant them allowance to cushion the effect of the high cost of living.
He said workers were going through enormous challenges due the harsh economic situation which he said was compounded by poor and irregular wages.
Wabba said it was regrettable that despite all the strikes and protests undertaken by workers to improve the condition of things in the country, not much had been achieved.
He said though most countries in the world were going through similar economic challenges, the situation was better in those countries because their governments responded to the challenges by providing some allowances to their workers.
Wabba said: “Though the economic challenges are almost the same around the world but each country is responding specifically to address the challenges. Take for instance, the issue of wage. We demand for wage justice even in Nigeria because with inflation rate of two to three digits, that is now hovering around 20 percent and above, you can be sure that the workers on fixed wages will be at the recieving end.”
He said with the level of inflation and the attendant high cost of food items in the market, today, the official inflation rate had become doubtful. While lamenting the hardship the workers were passing through, Wabba said the level of indifference by government was alarming.
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According to Wabba, the difference between Nigerian workers and their counterparts in other parts of the world was that in some of the countries, the government had been providing what is called “cost of living allowance” to cushion the impact of economic difficulties
On the registration of two academic unions in universities, Wabba described it as a violation of the Labour Act.
“I can confirm that the registration of the two order unions is a violation of our Labour Act. Particularly, Section 5, Sub-section 4, provides clearly that where already there is an existing union representing the interests of the union that is about to be registered, that union should not be registered.
“So I can tell you that if you put it through the middle of our Labour Act, it has failed clearly. The law also provides clearly that before you register a union, it will be published in the National Gazette.
He however, praised Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila for his intervention in the protracted crisis between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government. He said: “I must commend those that are very proactive in trying to make sure that the true process of social dialogue to resolve the challenges are put in place.
NUCFRLANMPE President Comrade Goke Olatunji said there was a strong synergy between the employers and the workers in the sector.
He said the economy was not favourable to employers and the workers, noting that one of the major challenges was the forex scarcity.
“Forex scarcity has been a major challenge in our sector. Despite our cry and complaint to the government, the situation is getting worst,” Olatunji said .