BY ODILI CHRISTEL
The Nigeria Labour Congres, (NLC) has expressed its dissatisfaction over the Kaduna State government’s latest
policy on Special Exercise on Staff Verification”, with an instruction to tick “Yes /No” with regard to union membership. Stating that the form also demands that workers disclose the name(s) of the union(s) to which they belong.
The Congress described this as not only an affront but a direct violation of the fundamental and constitutional rights of workers as enshrined in Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); Conventions 87 and 98 of ILO (ratified by Nigeria); and the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act which guarantee the right and protection of workers to freely associate, unionize and operate independently of government.
The president, Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade AyubaWabba made the disclosure while giving his address at the opening ceremony of the Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the Congress held today in Abuja.
According to him, “We have issues with the Kaduna State Government. In January this year, the Kaduna State Council drew the attention of the Congress to the twin issue of delay in payment of salaries of a segment of workers due to a prolonged staff audit exercise and the death of 28 workers at the venue of the verification exercise in Zaria. Although the Governor promised compensation, to date, not even the salaries they died for have been paid to their families”.
In our intervention, we drew the attention of the government to the fact that deduction and remittance of check-off dues is not at the pleasure or discretion of government but is governed by Section 16A of the Trade Unions Act (as amended 2015) which states inter alia:
“Upon the registration and recognition of any Trade Union specified in the Third Schedule of this Act, an employer shall; “Make deduction from the wages of every worker who is a member of the trade union for the purpose of paying contributions to the Trade Union so registered;and “Remit such deductions to the registered office of the Trade Union within a reasonable period or such period as may be prescribed from time to time by the Registrar”.
He noted that barely two months after the intervention of NLC, the government of Kaduna State has come up with something new and, perhaps, more insidious. Stating that in violation of the extant laws and practice, it issued a form requesting workers to tick “Yes/No” to belong to trade unions.
His words, “I smelt a rat and gave clear and precise instructions that workers should not fill this form with an assurance that I would be in Kaduna the next day being Saturday in company of the TUC President to address workers.We did address workers as promised as could be evidenced by the reports in the media. I brought back to Abuja a copy of this form, which I here present to you for perusal. The form is called “Special Exercise on Staff Verification”, with an instruction to tick “Yes /No” with regard to union membership. The form also demands that workers disclose the name(s) of the union(s) to which they belong”.
“The decision of the State Government to unilaterally conduct a membership audit of union members constitutes a gross interference in the internal affairs of the unions and is an illegality.We have since gone back to Kaduna to mobilize resistance to this policy via sensitizing more workers and using strategic contacts in government circles. We have done a strong letter to the Governor but which we are yet to release. We also reached out to Femi Falana, SAN, who has given us a draft letter to the governor. Please, note that a legal option avails us an opportunity of instituting multiple suits against the Government of Kaduna State since each union is a legal entity of its own”, he said.
Already, the NLC headquarters had taken over the crisis in Kaduna and had jointly issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government of Kaduna State to stop the verification exercise which seeks to give workers the option of whether they want to belong to a union or face a showdown.
The Congress during the meeting did not leave the issue of Electricity Tariff hanging has it also stipulated the unjustifiable 45% increase in electricity tariff, he noted that the increase is illegal, unfair, unjustifiable and a further exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians, noting that the due process in the extant laws for such an increment was not followed in consonance with Section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act, 2005.
ConradeAyuba while speaking on behalf of the congress noted that there has been no significant improvement in service delivery coupled with the fact that most consumers are not metered in accordance with the signed Privatization Memorandum (MoU) of November 21, 2013 which stipulates that within 18 months gestation period, all consumers are to be metered;
According to him, “There is a subsisting court order dated May 28. 2015 by Honourable Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, in the case of ToluwaniYemi-Adebiyi versus NERC &Ors, that there shall be no increment until the determination of the substantive suit, the increment at this time negates the present biting prevailing economic recession vis-a-vis an attempt to further impoverish the poor masses”.
Accordingly, the Stake Holders demanded an “immediate halt of this morbid and exploitative intention” with a warning that an observance in the breach would attract a response such as the mobilization of all Nigerians to resist the new tariff, mass protest or picketing of all DISCOs nationwide, and a directive to all consumers to reject any bill with the new tariff.“Armed with this mandate, Congress commenced the simultaneous process of mobilization and strategic communication with relevant government institutions and individuals with a view to having a peaceful resolution. Amongst the individuals and institutions reached were the Minister of Power, NERC and the leadership of the National Assembly, all to no avail”.
Ayuba noted that while the process is on, the tariff increase has remained, and under a worsening power supply situation. Not a few Nigerians are groaning under this burden. Not a few of them look to the Congress for a solution.“On Thursday, March 31, 2016, “power generation crumbled to zero megawatt for three hours”. This underscores the gravity of our situation”, what is the way forward, he said.
Meanwhile, he commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking bold measures aimed at rebuilding the economy. Some of these decisions include re-newing or strengthening relations with nations of worth, signing of bilateral or trilateral agreements, creating a safe haven for investment, fighting corruption, restoring internal security, tracking and recovering looted funds, resisting pressures to further devalue the Naira and other measures.
according to him, “In spite of all this, the Naira continues to fall against the major currencies, inflation continues to rise, commodity prices mount, the productive sector continues to shrink with more loss of jobs. Very few employers are paying salaries as when due. We need no telling that the situation is serious”.
“Government must consult more widely and come up with an enduring solution. In spite of its effort so far, clearly lacking is the absence of a credible economic team with a coherent policy capable of responding to the present challenges. Labour is serious enough a component of this polity to be considered to be part of this team when government constitutes one”, he said.