Bimbola Oyesola , [email protected]
Organised labour has charged entrepreneurs to desist from making workers sacrificial lambs wherever there is need to cut cost in an economic crisis or difficulties.
This is even as workers, under the umbrella of the Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN), have decried job losses in the chemical sector through redundancy.
President of the union, Segun David, reflecting on the state of the industry at the 25th Annual National Management/Industrial Relations Seminar of the union in Asaba, Delta State, at the weekend, lamented that the present time was a difficult time for Nigerian workers who have to deal with the challenges of job losses, reduced salaries and zero appraisals at workplaces.
“It is an open secret that economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic cut across all facets of life. Workers should not always be at the receiving end whenever there is need to cut costs,” he said.
Noting that the three-day programme, themed “Critical Analysis of Post-COVID-19 on Socio-economic Challenges and its Impact on the Organised Labour-Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Experience,” was organised to draw attention to the plights of the sector, he stated that it would also devise ways of solving challenges in the sector.
According to the CANMPSSAN president, workers in the sector sacrificed a lot during the lockdown to ensure survival and continuous running of some of their companies: “We, therefore, reject being used as a scapegoat whenever management is contemplating on cost-cutting measures.
“There is need for the stakeholders (the management and the staff) to engage in meaningful deliberations that will improve input and output capacity without job losses.”
David explained that the advent of coronavirus has reminded all about the importance of taking health seriously, adding that employers of labour should put measures in place to make work conducive for the entire work force.
“Workers should not always bear the brunt when there is shortfall in finances; collaborative engagements can help us to strategize for a better future for our companies,” he said.
The labour leader equally tasked the government to be prompt in attending to the voice of the people and take responsibility for many things going wrong in the country.
The general manager, human asset management, Dangote Cement, Femi Adekunle, however, said redundancy was not an easy way out for the companies as they valued their workers seriously.
“Workers are our most essential part, they are the golden hen that lays the golden eggs; without them, there wouldn’t be any production neither can a company survive without them. But in a situation where the company’s existence is threatened due to one problem or the other, there’s nothing that a company can do than to cut down on staff to survive,” he said.