Stories by Bimbola Oyesola, 08033246177
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) might have announced that Nigeria with the GDP of 0.55% is technically out of recession, but for the Organised Labour and most especially, the National Union of Shops and Distributive Employees (NUSDE), the recession is still very much here with Nigerians.
The National President of NUSDE, Kelly Ogbaloi, said even though government wants Nigerians to believe that the counry is now out of recession, but to the organised labour that is a mirage because the workers and an average Nigerians cannot see any indices on ground to say that Nigeria is out of recession.
He lamented that in view of the biting recession, there has been massive casualisation of workers in the industry, which invariably killing the trade union movement as there has been massive job losses.
The Labour leader speaks on the problem of expatriates and why the employers must respect the country labour law in terms of employment of foreigners and unionisation in the workplace.
He also explains the process of engagement the organised labour has been employing to ensure harmonious industrial relation in the workplace and the ills of the new Labour Reform Act of 2004.
Excerpts:
Biting recession
The impact the recession has had on my sector is extremely negative. As of today, where we had ten workers, probably we are having two workers there now. Where there had been 20 workers, likely to have five workers left. These are physical thing to behold, the employers are suffering on one hand because the recession is biting them hard. The effect is seriously on our sector, casualisation is on the increase, because at times like this employers are going to come up with solutions that are not normal and give it interpretation that are normal in their own views. They said rightsizing, downsizing, abolishing gratuity and all the sorts. But when one take all of these into consideration, one find out that our sector is in a great trouble.
OPS inability to pay new wage
The issue of minimum wage I think is more applicable to the public sector as more employers in the Organised Private Sector (OPS) are already paying more than the minimum wage. Though the economy has been so challenging and majority of them are not breaking even, but quite a good percentage of them have been magnimous to do what they can do. So in spite of the challenges employers in OPS have been trying to do what they can in paying the salary of their workers.
Workers protest
Speaking from the perspective of United Labour Congress (ULC), as far as we are concerned, several things aggravated the workers, these include the unpaid salary and the welfare issue, and for us we have already map out ways in which government would be engaged soonest. But looking at what happened in Abuja at the last May Day, was a situation that have to do with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), a labour centre, and ULC is a separate labour centre. What we can do today is a collaboration of centres in a labour movement. What happened in Abuja was a complete show of disappointment on the part of the workers for the government of the of the day. That was a situation where of course ball was taken to the palace. It was a complete show of disaffection. It was a complete show for the fact that the workers have gotten to their dead end now and knowing fully well that the only thing that can solve the problem is to put food on the table of the workers. If the Minister of Labour or whoever represents the government did not take this serious, it means they would see things that would be worst from what they have seen before. What I would advice is that the federal government must now hit the ground running because what the workers had shown in Abuja was that the government had disappointed them and had given government representatives at the rally to take back home and do the needful.
Challenges
The challenges actually in view of the recession, that we are into now, even though government said we are out of the recession, to us that is a mirage because we cannot see any indices on ground to say that we are out of recession. In view of that, there has been massive casualisation of workers in the industry, that is killing the trade union movement. There has also been massive restructure. Restructure of the workers population in the workplace. Like I said earlier, where you were having 10 workers working for an employer, today you are going to find two or three there. Tomorrow you go to another one, where you have fifteen, you may likely find three or four. This is the problem, these are the challenges. The employers are now bringing in expatriates that are not likely to have passed through the actual requirement that permits an expatriate to be in this country. Our jobs are removed and given to this expatriates. Its a big challenge, today an average Nigerian is economically insufficient, and do we really need an expatriate skill in this country? No! Except in very serious sector that is expatriate demanded, but in the shop floor, in the workshop, we don’t need an expatriate. Here in Nigeria, you find an expatriate doing human resource jobs. An expatriate coming from India, an expatriate coming from Lebanon, an expatriate from all these unthinkable countries to be taken as human resources manager. It’s unacceptable. It should not happen, because to be a human resources manager, you should be familiar with the culture of the people you are managing. How can you come from India and be a human resources manager in Nigeria, where you have bonafide and well educated Nigerians who can assume that position. These are some of the things employers in the industry have adopted in the recent times and it’s a very great challenge. So am sending this message that the National Union of Shops and Distributive Employees, that we as a matter of fact feel bad and are going to take serious and very drastic action to correct this situation by our employers.
Steps to be taken on casualisation and other anomalies
The first thing we want to do is to create a conducive and continual atmosphere where we can engage employers in the industry and commence the discussion leading to possible negotiation. So that the feelings of each party in the industry will be known to each and everyone that is involved. When that is done am sure that the employer in the industry will understand the plight of the workers and the workers that of the employers. Of course, it is abhorrable act to casualise workers and keep them working for a period of one, two, three years wihout giving them permanent employment. It is against the law of the land and foreign employers in Nigeria, must agree to obey the rules of this land. Yes! We want you to invest here, but that will not be negating the principles of the laws of this country and how of course, the labor is run in this country. The employers should know that these acts are affecting the labour movement in this country and also the laws of the land. We expect that they would understand and know that such acts should not continue unabated.
Challenges in organising
The problem that has been in the way of organising in this country has been mostly by law. Yes we need to organise, but the law says, we should seek the consent of the workers that you are organising. At some point, some workers may not understand why they have to be organised into a union. That is number one, two, the employers often resisted workers from being organised and could threaten workers with sack should they go ahead and get organised. Of course with the rate of unemployment in the country, an average worker would like to protect his or her job. In the past, once you are employed and a union exist where you are employed, you automatically become a member of that union, management commence deduction of your check off dues and remit appropriately. But today it is not like that when you approach an organisation, the management would tell you that you should go to the workers and if they agree, but this is a management that have already warned them against joining the union. Then you find out that by the time you go to them, none of them would be favourably disposed to belong to the union.
Compliance by new multi nationals shops
To be more exact, Shoprite is in total compliance. To be more exact, Shoprite are complying to a very high standard. The only problem like I mentioned earlier is that the law says we must seek the consent of the workers and if you have unionised about 100 workers and the employment continue to take in new ones, it means that every point of new employment, you need to interface with the workers, like I said, Shoprite will give us recognition, but in some places they will tell you that as you are coming in, you must not get along with any trade union, else they will sack the worker. Some of these workers already have this behind their minds, so by the time the trade union is coming they would tell them to go because of the orientation they had when they joined the organisation. That is the major problem we have and again the compliance is truncated by that act of the government, which will believe need to be reviewed.