Labour pickets MTN, Orange Drugs, others over casualisation of workers

Following the dehumanising labour practices most Nigerian workers are being subjected to in some organisations, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is set to picket MTN, Orange Drugs Limited and Chi Nigeria Limited, among others.

Addressing a world press conference yesterday at its national secretariat in Lagos, President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said the move became necessary following the violations of workers’ rights in the country.

“We are embarking on this exercise because employers continue to casualise workers in several work places, which is contrary to national laws of employment, international labour, human rights conventions and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the rights and welfare of workers,” he said.

Wabba, who was represented by the Vice President of the congress, Solomon Adelegan, stated that the action was in commemoration of 2017 World Day for Decent Work (WDDW), which is celebrated every October 7.

He said it was a day set aside for mobilisation of members of all trade unions across the globe to stand up for decent work.

Tagged: End Corporate Greed-Nigerian Workers Demand Decent Work And Pay Rise, Wabba stressed that the key role of decent work for all in achieving sustainable development was carefully highlighted by SDGs goal eight, which aims to “promote, sustain, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

He noted that decent work, employment creation, social protection, rights at the work place and social dialogue represent integral elements of the new 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

“Casualisation kills the worker emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is unacceptable to the NLC that running organisations would be realised at the expense of the Nigerian workers.”

Employers dehumanise workers by forcing them to accept casual work patterns, slave-rated wages and denial of their rights to unionise and bargain in addition to the enjoyment of social protection, in compliance with International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 98.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to warn that organisations’ persistent casualisation of their workforce amounts to the degradation of the workers and their reduction to objects to be brutally exploited and dumped at will,” he stated.

Congress demands, he noted, are that organisations should stop casualisation of workers, pay them a living wage, allow them to form and belong to trade unions of their choice in compliance with the labour laws and ILO convention 87, among others demands.

Wabba insisted that members of the NLC and other trade unions would picket anti-workers companies in Abuja and the 36 states on October 6 and October 7, 2017.