The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reported the Kogi and Kaduna state governments to the World Labour body over total disregard for the principle of collective bargaining which constitutes violations of ILO convention 98 for sacking workers indiscriminately and refusal tom pay salary of workers.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress and representative of workers on the Governing Board of the ILO, Comrade Ayuba Wabba told the Committee on Application of Standard in Geneva that the Nigerian government is working through the back door to proscribe the Congress and undermine collective labour relations in the country.
“In Kogi State, North-central Nigeria, the government is refusing to abide by collective bargaining agreement concerning the payment and protection of wages. Workers and pensioners in that state are owed over 7 months salaries and pension benefits. This is in spite of repeated genuine efforts by the Federal Government to ameliorate this problem through the granting, three times, of financial bailout to all the affected states.
“In July 2017, the Kogi state government rather than negotiate with the teaching staff in the tertiary institutions in the state, it illegally proscribed and confiscated the assets of the affected unions. These actions are also violations of section 40 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which was equivocal that “all persons shall not only be free to assemble and associate, but in particular, shall freely form or belong to trade unions and other associations for the protection of their interests.
“In 2017, the government of Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria, sacked with a slant of disingenuous manner 38,000 workers comprising of 22,000 teachers, about 5,000 Local government Councils, and over 8,000 from ministries, departments, agencies, as well as those in the tertiary institutions under the guise of a vague reform.
“The sack was carried out without recourse to respect and consideration for established rules in handling such process, including the provisions in the existing public sector collective bargaining procedures. The Nigeria Labour Congress officially reported this violation to the Ministry of Labour.
“We wish to report that the disregard for collective bargaining extant laws and practices was total. For instance, the Nigeria Union of Teachers challenged this illegal sack in court and got a restraining order that the proposed sack should be put on hold until the substantive suit is decided. The court order was blatantly disregarded and disobeyed by the state government.”
He accused the Kaduna state government of also violating section 16(A) of the Trade Union Act, by withholding seven months deductions to all the unions, while also going ahead to stop such deductions through a government circular.
Credit: The Nation
