Labour seeks government’s support against indecent work, unfair wages

Workers across sectors of the Nigerian economy on Wednesday rose in stout condemnation of increasing cases of labour casualisation, indecent work/environment as well as poor pay package for Nigerians.

They called on the Federal Government to come up with legislations to protect workers and the citizens from continued exploitation.

The labour also decried rampant reports of workplace accidents without compensation of the victims, especially by some foreign employers who flout the Nigerian extant labour laws with impunity.

The workers under the aegis of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), joining the rest of the world to mark the 2015 Decent Work Day, insisted on what they termed “decent work decent pay” for workers.

Addressing workers in Ikeja, NLC leaders – Ayuba  Wabba, Joe Ajaero, Issa Aremu, said indecent work/environment remained a challenge in Nigeria, which the government needed to address, just as they led a team of workers to the Egbin Power Plant in Ikorodu, among other companies, to protest against the ill.

They also condemned the pattern of job recruitment in Nigeria, citing the example of the recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in 2014 that left several people dead in different places across Nigeria.

On his part, Princewill Alozie, a retired professor and social advocate, who joined the NLC team, lamented the neglect of the aged in the society.

Sunday Salako, president of ASSBIFI, whose union has been most consistent in marking the day with a symposium, condemned a situation in Nigeria where workers were treated with disdain and given “unrealistic targets,” especially in financial sector.

According to Salako, whose union’s theme for the event was “corporate greed: root cause of casualisation and outsourcing,” the ill is being further promoted in the country by what he termed failure to adhere to the principle of tripartism, where labour, employer and government sit and agree to what should obtain in the labour system.

He said rather than adhering to the tripartism, what was happening in Nigeria was a situation where enterprises were colluding with government to unleash pains on workers.

Salako insisted on the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a worker-friendly minister to be in charge of labour and productivity ministry, saying this was the only way to emancipate the workers from slavery as witnessed in the country today.