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By Bimbola Oyesola , [email protected]
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reiterated the urgent need for both federal and state governments to increase workers’ salary in the core civil service due to the biting inflation in the country.
This is even as it noted that the organised labour movement is ready to put political leaders on the right path through its actions and negotiations.
The congress emphasised that government must urgently look into the plight of Nigerian workers due to spiraling inflation in the country and grant them allowance to cushion the effects of high cost of living.
President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, speaking at the inauguration of the Guest House of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), in Ijoko, Sango-Ota, Ogun State, lamented that Nigerian 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 the 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 the 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 receiving end.”
The NLC boss reasoned that 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 had become alarming.
According to Wabba, the difference between Nigerian workers and their counterparts in other parts of the world was that in some of the other countries, the government had been providing what is called “Cost of living allowance” meant to cushion the impact of the economic difficulties.
Though members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have called off their eight months industrial action, Wabba noted that the registration of two academic unions in the universities by the government in the midst of the crisis is a violation of the Labour Act.
“I can confirm that the registration of the two other uniozns 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, commended Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, for his intervention in the protracted crisis between 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.
“At the same time, those who cautioned people who think employment relationship is still old ways of master-servant relationship.
“Globally, that perspective has changed, the relationship is now symbiosis, that requires mutual respect from both the employers and the employees.
“I think this is what Gbajabiamila was playing out, I must commend him for his significant contributions and important roles, so that at the end it is a win-win thing.
“I know when they go back to their classrooms, they will be very happy teaching our kids because these are intellectuals and their state of hearts will also speak volume how they impact knowledge.
“I commend the wisdom of the speaker, there is no use using cohesion or force in solving the problem, but through provision of dialogue that will comfort everybody,” he said.
The President of NUCFRLANMPE, Goke Olatunji said there is a strong synergy between the employers and the workers in the sector.
He said the economy is not favourable to both the employers and the workers, noting that one of the major challenges is the forex scarcity.
“Forex scarcity has been a major challenge in our sector. Despite our crying out and complain to the government, our employer continued to find it more difficult to access the forex for their production process,” Olatunji said .
