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By Bimbola Oyesola
Taking over the rein of leadership of a union almost at the advent of COVID-19 pandemic lock down was not a palatable experience. But for a leader with a foresight there is always a way even when there’s no way.
Hence Comrade Segun David. National President Chemical and
NonMetallic Senior Staff Association (CANMPSSAN), in the past two years have been able to make omelette without breaking eggs. Organising 12 branches in an era where companies thrive in casualization and contract staffing is a rare feat.
In this interview, David stated that part of his mission is to collaborate with like minds unions to end casualization in the Nigeria workplaces.
He equally reveals his union’s steps at providing welfare for the members and other important strides that set CANMPSSAN apart from other industrial unions in the country.
Excerpts:
Challenges in the sectors
Since I came on board, it’s been a toxic myriad. Just about when we’re trying to settle down, that was when we had the COVID-19 pandemic. So we were struggling with that until we were able to see how we can ride within it. There was no physical meetings and a lot of our branches were being shut down, and some never recovered till now. And our membership reduced drastically because some have to downsize under the guise of economic crunch. However, we moved on with that rather than just sitting down, like a lame dog, we moved on. and we felt, okay, what can we do, we try to engage the employers by telling them, that its just a face, it will pass, and also engaged our members also to be more productive and resourceful to see how they can work with their employers to turn the tide. And doing that we felt okay, what can we do more, we moved on. And we set out a vision and a plan for aggressive organizing. And between that time and now we’ve organized, about 12 branches more, just to ensure that we maintain our number or possibly increase our numbers. And that’s a very strong thing I think we have achieved. We tried to stabilize the industry, we also try to expand or enlarge our memberships. While not forgetting our, international unions, which we belong to, we also try to strengthen our relationship. So that’s part of the few things we achieved, but others are physical structures or physical achievement in terms of continuing with our project and getting our association’s an official vehicle.
Fighting for workers
I think that’s a very, very good question. And, and that’s the fundamental of union. Other things are secondary. The second major thing is how you want to fight and establish the welfare of your members. And in doing that, the last time we had the collective bargaining agreements, or which we call the condition of service, or procedural agreement reviewed for CANMPSSAN was in 2007. So I felt that is a big abberation if we want to move forward. But I think some event has overtaking it. Some of the issues discussed were obsolete. So we went to CANMPEF and we told them that we want to have discussion. Of course, they were not really keen about it because they know its going to be a big challenge. And there is going to be a lot of issues about it, but we keep pushing and in the last month, March, we started the physical meeting. We’ve been having some meetings before then, discussing the changes we want and that is crucial. I guess all our members were really excited about that. In addition to that, we we had a review of retirement age for some companies.
So we have started implementing it some in Lagos and some in the East. We realized that most of the expatriates of the multinationals retired sometimes 60s, 65 or even more. But in our own case, most of the companies retired at 55. And we saw that, even after retirement, these guys are still agile. And what they felt was that after retirement, that’s the end of their life. So, if we have the public sector increasing the retirement age, why shouldn’t we do it, so we took that on and we have been succeeding.
Those are part of the things we’ve done to fight for the welfare of our workers. We are also looking at some other grants, loans from the government, which also we’ve not gotten that yet fully, but it’s also in the pipeline that we are expecting that government will do for us.
Casualization and contract work in the industry
Again, that is very critical. We took that on, not only on our own labour level, we also took that on with other unions. We are collaborating with unions like ASSBIFI, PENGASSAN, NUCFRLANMPE, our junior counterparts in the sector to see that this is wiped out. We went forward also to discuss it with Industriall Global union, that this is becoming a menace already to the workforce and we’ve written in strong terms to many companies that this cannot continue. Those workers also deserve a life. A worker is a worker. And this also is part of some of the things we’re also talking about in the in the ongoing discussion in the condition of service for the association.
CANMPSSAN uniqueness
What sets CANMPSSAN apart! Our union is unique in the sense that apart from food, we are about the next largest union, whether junior or senior and this have made us to look beyond just the limited level people seem to see us. We cut across everywhere. We can effectively hold our own or have a stake in the in the oil and gas, we have our stake in the food, we have our stake in the manufacturing as well. And why do I say so when you talk of oil and gas, the petrochemical sector, fertilizer, they are under CANMPSSAN. When you talk of food, your vegetable oil, your salt, they are food, but they are also chemical. So, it’s also CANMPSSAN and
that we are already discussing with the Ministry of Labour, that they should redefine some of these things, and we are getting a positive response on them. So that makes CANMPSSAN very, very unique. So in the pharmaceutical, and almost every sector, we will also have a foothold in those places. Based on that we are very vibrant organization that people want to reckon with.
Inflation and Infrastructural challenges
In the last 10 years or so, the standard of living of an average worker has drastically gone down and there’s no improvement especially in the last four years. Inflation is drastically on the rise, infrastructure are fast depreciating and yet there has been no significant improvement in terms of remuneration for Nigerian workers. Since the last minimum wage was approved, life has never remained the same for an average Nigerian worker because the inflation suddenly increase even though the money has not been paid. And even knowing that this money cannot even do anything for any Nigerian worker. So what are we doing? We are collaborating with other unions and also putting pressure on the government to give Nigeria workers a breather, to see how they can effectively hold their own, while at work and even when they retire. This has been our agitation to the government and how will this be achieved? Make life bearable for workers. Recall that in February, the government has already concluded plans to change the price of petroleum products. Single handedly, TUC with the support of its affiliate unions, especially
CANMPSSAN strongly push for this, we protested to the government and it was suspended. We also asked that they look into some deliberate measures that can help the life of an average worker and we are also not relenting on this.
Organising
Well, so far, just to be on the conservative side. We’ll be looking at closer to about 606 members in 12 branches.
Setting agenda for nations 2023
In the first place, workers have to be physically involved, you have to be directly involved, what you are not involved with, you can not contribute. Or you cannot dictate. We have a committee in place, at the TUC level which are being championed by affiliates unions to also get a political party, or operate our own platform, not the regular platform that everybody knows but set up a labour platform, which we’re doing. In fact, one of the things that really gave us setback was the last train bombing that in which our Secretary General got killed. That was one of the missions he was going for. And so we will be directly involved, we know that we may not be able to aim for the presidency at first. But we want to start from the grassroots, because politics start from there. If we’re able to change the orientation, the mindset of our people from the grassroots, gradually it will flow to the top. And that’s our game plan. So we’ll be directly involved and not only being involved, we will directly show up and we will work from the grassroots.
Orientating workers
Part of the meeting of today is to sensitize them that first, you must vote and your vote must count. So you must ensure that your vote is counted, and how can you vote and that’s why I said you must be physically involved. You must participate. That’s part of what I meant by you must be actively involved. So you will have to obtain a PVC and you must vote or be voted for.
