•From left: Abia State NLC Chairman Uchenna Obigwe, Head of Service, Abia State Vivian Uma, Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu; Nwaigwe Solomon Nwaigwe and Speaker, Abia state House of Assembly Matins Azubuike during the Worker's/May Day in Umuahia...yesterday.
Yesterday, workers across Nigeria joined their counterparts all over the world to mark the Workers’ Day. TOBA AGBOOLA reports that they are looking forward to a N56,000 minimum wage and other goodies.
Workers yesterday marked the 130th anniversary of the International Labour Day, popularly called May Day or Workers Day. May Day has its origin in the 1886 industrial revolution in Chicago, United States where workers laid down their lives to defend the rights of the working class.
In Nigeria, the first Workers Day was celebrated in Kano State in 1980 during the administration of Alhaji Abubakar Rimi who declared the day a public holiday.
The Federal Government under Alhaji Shehu Shagari followed suit in 1981 and since then May Day has been celebrated nationwide.
At the 36 state capitals and Abuja, workers rallied under the auspices of their umbrella organisation – Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
According to them, there was no reason to celebrate when they are being owed salary arrears.
They said the downturn in the government’s revenue has compounded the workers’ predicaments. Many states ar struggling to pay wages.
Minimum wage
Speaking with The Nation, NLC President Ayuba Wabba said labour expected the Federal Government to look into the issue of the N56,000 minimum wage proposed by both the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
He said: “I can say now authoritatively that few days ago, we made a formal proposal to the Federal Government of N56, 000 to be the new minimum wage.
“The demand has been submitted officially to government and we hope that the tripartite system to look at the review will actually be set up to look at it.
“Our argument is that, yes, it is true that the economy is not doing well, but the law states that wages for workers must be reviewed after every five years.
“So, the issue must be looked into by the Federal Government and workers should not be seen as sleeping on their rights.”
The NLC president said workers needed to be empowered financially to have the purchasing power to buy what they would need to survive.
“If manufacturers are producing and nobody is buying, the economy will be at a standstill because people lack the purchasing power to buy.
“So, these are some of the issues we will be pushing forward at the negotiation table and there must be a tripartite committee to look at the challenges,”he said.
Casualisation/ Retrenchment
TUC President Bobboi Kaigama frowned at the slow pace of the current administration in reviving the economy.
Kaigama said President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to fulfil his campaign promises.
“There is urgent need for the current administration to revive the economy, provide security and food on the table of Nigerians,” he said.
Kaigama also said the TUC and the NLC would fight casualisation in the country.
He cited the construction industry.
“This is a sector where you have the highest number of casualisation. If there is any industry that has no respect for employees, it is the construction industry.
“There is need for the construction industry to abide by the rules and regulations of the International Labour Organisation as it concerns decent jobs for workers,’’ he added.
The TUC President urged the government to ensure that every construction work follows due process and that payment is affected accordingly.
Kaigama said there is also need for urgent steps to be taken to revive the economy, which has resulted in the massive retrenchment of workers in some parts of the country.
His words: “More Nigerians will soon be thrown to the streets by their employers as a cost cutting measure, if nothing is done to revive and improve the economy.’’
He said the labour movement would support the Federal Government to fight corruption and ensure good governance to create decent jobs for workers.
Collapse of human capital
To the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTW), Comrade Issa Aremu, there was need for the workers to celebrate despite all the challenges.
He, however, said human capital which is the greatest asset of any country has collapsed in Nigeria.
Aremu pointed out that there are a lot Nigeria can gain from China in terms of human capital.
He said China has empowered it people. He said Nigeria should take a clue from this.
“Nigeria must engage with the world to fill its knowledge/resources gaps as much as it must also be willing to give support and solidarity for world peace and prosperity.
“And with China our relations should be more than a passing diplomatic fad. Development observers agree today that there are three global development challenges namely China, China and China. It is therefore understandable if Nigeria comes to terms with China. No country has recorded remarkable rapid economic ascendancy in the past 25 years like China. With 1.5 billion population and consistent 12 per cent growth rate in the past three decades, China has shown that huge quality human resource is indeed an asset and not a liability,” he said.
The Director General, Nigeria Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Segun Oshinowo, said industrial harmony/relations has collapsed.
He said the country was in a state of anomie, adding that impunity has established its reign.
He said: “Industrial harmony and industrial relations and by extension the trade unions are regarded by mainstream government as necessary evil.
“There is also a moribund and ineffective Ministry of Labour. This actually flows from above. In government’s machinery for governance, the ministry and its role are confined to the lower wrung of the pecking order. This of course has implication for resource allocation and quality of headship. The belief is that anyone can just be appointed as Minister of Labour and Employment. Labour relations is not seen as an area of expertise at the same level as health and finance that require technocrat at the political level to be at the helms of affairs.”
Oshinowo said another problem is the disdain and impunity for the rule of law and absence of procedural agreement.
“This is as true for the government as it is true for the trade union; particularly in the public sector. The government acts more as a sovereign than an employer. Hence, it sees itself as the law. It does not believe or engage in collective bargaining; flout agreements at will and has scant regard for the terms and conditions of employment of workers. The situation is more appalling at the state level.
“On the union’s part, grievance and dispute settlement procedures are hardly respected in the pursuit of their issues,” he said.
Oshinowo said strike has now become the first resort rather than the last option.
He said some union officials do not know the limit of union immunity and often engage in criminality in the name of trade unionism.
“Others have literally taken over the management of their organisations from ignorant and hen- pecked administrators, who are better described as management abdicator.
“All parties have chosen to act as if there are no longer trade union rights and their limitations; and no management rights (prerogatives) and their limitations.
“There is another perspective to this. The absence of procedural agreement to regulate the bargaining relationship of the parties in terms of negotiable items, non- negotiable but discussable items and purely informational issues; duration of agreement and internal grievance settlement procedure.”
On the solution, Oshinowo said government, as a sovereign, must feel sufficiently disturbed about the atmosphere of pervasive industrial disharmony, with the consequence of massive loss of manpower and productive hours and threat to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
His words: “Unfortunately, such consciousness is yet to dawn on the managers of our economy. And the expert in government, the Ministry of Labour, that should know and put this on the front burner as an issue in the change agenda of government, is busy fire fighting and conciliating endlessly.
“Labour and the employers at the level of their pinnacle organisations must all come to the conclusion that the system is collapsing or has collapsed and a wholesale reform is urgently required. They should separately and jointly be persistent in their calls for reform conference. Good enough, we have the institutional existence of a body called NLAC, which includes representatives of the states, to jumpstart discussion on this issue.
“The outcome of any reform programme must include timeline for implementation, which should be driven by the tripartite constituents.”
Effects of fuel, power outage on workers
Wabba said workers were seriously feeling the harsh realities of the economic crisis in the country.
Wabba criticised Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr Ibe Kachikwu and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for the fuel scarcity.
The labour leader noted, “We dare say that one of the fastest ways for government to lose its credibility before the ordinary citizenry is scarcity of petroleum products because the combined effects of scarcity of petroleum products and low power supply create misery for the people as well as have a damning impact on travel, jobs, productivity and the economy as a whole.”
The NLC president decried the 45 per cent increase in electricity tariff, saying the increase was “illegal, unfair, unjustifiable and a further exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians”.
Kaigama also decried the lingering fuel scarcity, saying it appears to have defied all solutions: “In a country that is the sixth largest oil producer in the world. We have become a laughing stock in the comity of nations. The man-hours lost in traffic jams due to long fuel queues has become unimaginable. As it stands now virtually all sectors of the economy are groaning in serious and unbearable pain.”
He said there has not been any significant improvement in service delivery coupled with the fact that most consumers are not metred by the signed Privatisation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of November 21, 2013 which stipulated that within 18 months gestation period, all consumers must be metered.
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