As we approach another workers’ day celebration, I will like to draw the attention of the Nigerian Labour congress and its equally popular affiliates like PENGASSAN, NUPENG, NUT and ASUU to issues which they need to address to help better the lives of Nigerians in general.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in labour issues in Nigeria which has made me question the motive of labour unions in the country. In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that most of the labour issues that have been successfully fought and resolved in Nigeria are those fought against foreign management of western multinational companies usually on racial and emotional issues. It will be interesting to find out how the Nigerian managed companies and Asian managed ones manage their Labour issues and address staff welfare that you hardly hear about it or could it be that the workers are so intimidated they don’t talk about Labour issues.

ASUU for example has been on strike since 1994 although they suspend the strikes once in a while just to complete a semester and resume but I can’t remember any of their fight that has yielded any encouraging result and I guess that’s why the strikes are usually suspended rather than called off. NUT in recent times has embarked on strikes to draw Government’s attention to the rot in our primary and secondary schools and also to call for an improvement in their remuneration but not much was achieved and they are back teaching or pretending to be teaching. NLC has also been calling for improvement in worker’s salaries but there’s no sign that they will have cause to smile anytime soon. Staff of a Nigerian Newspaper company went on strike sometime ago and as if to offer solidarity, most newspapers did not even report it. There are labour issues in many of the banks but nobody dares talk about it, we also have labour issues in Telecoms companies and there is the dehumanising conditions Nigerians endure working for Indians, Chinese, Lebanese and construction firms all of which needs to be addressed.

The objective of this piece is not for Nigerians to take up arms against their employers but for NLC as the umbrellas body to partner with other unions, State and National Assembly in addressing labour issues or else Nigerians will continue to suffer in silence as they report to their duty posts every morning because many of these issues only require legislative bills to address them.

In addressing these issues, some of the things that NLC, TUC and other unions should take note include the following:

· Majority of the banks in Nigeria have no closing time and people work over 60 hours a week (weekend inclusive). This was stretched to the ridiculous recently when Diamond Bank proudly announced that its staff were to close at 7 pm in a bid to ensure that they have dinner with their families. I believe that NLC has a duty to partner with the National Assembly in ensuring that the amount of hours to be worked in a week are clearly defined and every letter of employment should carry resumption and closing times while compensation for extra hours are defined.

· There are companies in Nigeria today that employ staff and give them a letter of employment in the name of a third party company in a bid to avoid legitimate labour issues while the staff work for that company permanently. There is a limit to which outsourcing can be acceptable and this trend which has been adopted by some companies (including some GSM operators) represents slavery and exploitation of workers and needs to be tackled by adequate legislation.

· I have observed how NLC and TUC rush to defend its members even when they are clearly wrong without considering what is good for the country and majority of people. It is no longer news that our refineries have hardly operated in the last 10 years while the staff of these companies draw huge salaries, go on training courses and spend huge money awarding contracts while contributing absolutely nothing to the national economy yet when Government chose to sell off these money drain referred to as National assets, NLC and TUC went up in arms. I had thought the example of what Conoil is today as opposed to when it was National oil should give us some benefit of doubt. There is no doubt that the deregulation would have caused some to loose their jobs but it would also provide more employment for serious minded people and the petrochemical industry will at least come alive and provide more jobs. I do not expect that anyone will buy a refinery and not put it to work on the excuse that pipelines are being blown up. How come the multinationals still operate in their Delta even though their lines are regularly attacked. As it is, we’ve probably lost our best chance of selling the refineries and they may just become as bad as NITEL thanks to NLC. Labour unions like NUPENG have even gone to bizarre levels by going on strike so that they can be allowed to park on bridges and in the middle of expressways and NLC keeps quiet.

· It is becoming obvious by the day that PHCN workers would rather not see the NIPP and independent projects come to light, they are more interested in protecting their jobs and putting us in perpetual darkness yet NLC has not deemed it yet to discuss with the National union of Electricity Employees on how to stop this generator menace that is doing harm to our pockets and health. Another issue that I’ve found interesting with PHCN workers is the reluctance to install the prepaid meters and that may have to do with side revenue which prepaid meters will reduce.

· At best, Civil servants across the land can only pretend to be working though it is also true that their pay cannot justify serious work. I believe that it is time however, that we move on to a new level where civil servants will be proud of the work they do, look forward to going to their offices and go home each day satisfied that they have put in their best. The current situation where civil servants hardly have any skills to show for their many years of work experience does not speak well at all. So many civil servants still cannot operate a computer in year 2009 and is it any surprise that they still work using the old methods of pushing files. IT infrastructure is non-existent in many civil services and they have no official email address. Recently, Lagos state published the email addresses of its executive council and a good number of them had yahoo email addresses yet Lagos is one state that is ahead in terms of IT. It is a shame that people work in these Government establishments without any value being added to their lives.

It is no surprise that there are always issues with gratuity and pensions once they retire and that is why most civil servants will do anything to die in service forgetting that they need to go home and rest and allow their children work also. I would want to see a situation where NLC partners with Governments across the land to solve these issues rather than just asking for pay rise.

Olatunji Jacobs wrote in from Lagos.

Robot  # 1 | 27.04.2009 23:16

As we approach another workers’ day celebration, I will like to draw the attention of the Nigerian Labour congress and its equally popular affiliates like PENGASSAN, NUPENG, NUT and ASUU to issues which they need to address to help better the lives of Nigerians in general....Read the full article.