The Guardian, Tuesday, August 04, 2009
By Collins Olayinka
THE on-going attempt to review the Labour Laws by the National Assembly is indeed drawing reactions from both the centripetal and centrifugal forces not only within the Nigerian workspace but also from the international community.
Expectedly, the Nigeria Labour Congress has been in the forefront of ensuring that the existing labour movement in the country is not liquidated out of existence or supplanted by central unions that could derive their existence from the whims and caprices of the government of the day.
To the Congress, the labour laws pending before the National Assembly should not be passed in its present form as that could second the death knell on the movement in Nigeria.
Of course, government has risen up stoutly in support of the laws saying that they were derived from consensus among social partners that comprised government, employers and labour unions.
Expectedly, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Adeokunbo Kayode, at the public hearing on the labour laws by the House of Representatives Committee on Labour, defended the provisions adding that the document had the inputs of the tripartite bodies.
He said: "The provisions of the laws were the outcomes of series of meetings by all the tripartite partners during which all the issues were debated and arrived at."
But speaking at the seventh edition of the Nigeria Labour Congress Rain School which took place in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the President of the Congress, Abdulwaheed Omar, declared that if the proposal sailed through as being pushed by the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, the labour movement which had served as a veritable opposition voice in the country might finally be liquidated out of existence.
He also said that the central labour union was engaging the leadership of the National Assembly for them to see why they should not be used as instrument that would superintendent over the death of a body that had come to be seen as the last hope for the common working Nigerians especially whenever there was need to resist policies that were seen as inimical to the well-being of the citizenry.
His words: "Comrades, there is need for us to say here that there is danger ahead for the movement. The labour laws before the National Assembly are capable of wiping out the entire labour movement in our country. Can you imagine that the laws give so much power to the Minister of Labour that he can single-handedly de-unionise any registered union without recourse to anybody? Some of the aspects say that 50 people can come together to form a union and that any two labour unions can come together to form a labour centre. The implications of these, comrades, is that we can have as many centres as possible and again, the minister can wake up tomorrow and de-register the NLC if it perceives that our activities are becoming too uncomfortable for the government. The bills give so much power to Minister of Labour that needed to be curbed. We are in talks with members of the National Assembly to see the need to be cautious in the passage of the bill. It is now the responsibility of the National Assembly not to kill the only body that the Nigerian masses have come to see as the symbol of opposition. On the overall comrades, we have to play our own part in ensuring that we protect this movement in order for it to continue to serve our collective interest. Instead of reforming to achieve better things and move forward, our government is hell-bent on reforming retrogressively but we will resist this."
Omar described the training which had "Labour Laws Reform: Implications for Decent Work Agenda" as its theme, as timely most especially to the trade unions in the country saying there is a trend of bond between the laws, decent work agenda and the prevailing global economic meltdown and the agitation for the review of the minimum wage.
According to him, if there are no vibrant labour unions in the country, the trade unions will lack the capacity and legality to mobilise against policies that are deemed to be anti-workers. Therefore, there can be no decent work when workers are not adequately remunerated.
There is also an indication that the present push for a new minimum wage for workers may move beyond constituting a committee by government to the National Assembly.
Just as government is citing the prevailing global economic crunch for not wanting to increase workers' salaries, labour is equally citing the same circumstance as reason why workers must have more money to cope with rising cost of living. Therefore, Omar contended that there could not be decent work that demands optimal output from workers without adequate remuneration.
He said: "One of the key pillars of decent work is a decent remuneration. It is, therefore, understandable why the NLC has proposed a N52, 200 national minimum wage for the country. The world economic crisis has had profound effects on the workers' purchasing power that the current wages of Nigerian workers can best be described as "starvation wages". Amending the National Minimum Wage Act by the National Assembly must be given priority to save the Nigerian citizenry from further hardship."
On the domestic front, the Congress lauded the initiative to midwife a lasting peace in the troubled Niger Delta region through granting amnesty to militants that are willing to denounce criminal activities and embrace peaceful path towards the resolution of the perceived injustice done to the region.
While welcoming the amnesty initiative as a panacea for resolving the raging crisis, Omar identified aggressive pursuit of infrastructural development agenda and constructive dialogue amongst the parties as sure pathways for bringing lasting peace to the area.
"We welcome the amnesty granted by the Federal Government to the militants, but an aggressive pursuit of infrastructural development agenda coupled with constructive dialogue amongst the parties remain the pathway to peace in the region and the attainment of decent work agenda for the country," the NLC chief said.
A legal practitioner, Mr. Bamidele Aturu who spoke on, "Examining the Proposed Labour Laws Reform: Issues and Challenges to the Trade Union Movement" said that the proposed five laws which consist of Labour Standard Bill, Collective Labour Relations Bill, Labour Institutions Bill, Occupational Safety and Health Bill and the Michael Imoudu Labour Centre Bill were necessary to replace obsolete labour laws that are not in strict compliance with the ILO Conventions as well as best global practice.
One innovation that is most desirable for the labour administration in Nigeria is the conciliation aspect of trade dispute that has been embedded in the new labour laws. Observers said that such innovation would make dispute resolution more effective and easily abiding.
The ILO Decent Work Agenda which is centred on the organisation's key strategic objective believes that the principal route out of poverty is work, people in poverty need representation, participation and voice, the need to protect earning power that is suppressed by marginalisation and lack support systems and that dialogue remains the only way to solve problems peacefully.
One phenomenon that is affecting decent work programme in multi-dimensional ways is globalisation.
Globalisation on the one hand has helped a number of countries to benefit from high rates of economic growth and employment creation, to absorb many of the rural poor into the modern urban economy, to advance their developmental goals, and to foster innovation in product development and the circulation of ideas.
At the same time, on the other hand, it has also caused many countries and sectors to face major challenges of income inequality, continuing high levels of unemployment and poverty, vulnerability of economies to external shocks, and the growth of both unprotected work and the informal economy, which impact on the employment relationship and the protections it can offer.
According to the ILO, "decent work is not just a case or an instrument of governments. Decent work is everyone's responsibility. Workers, employers, governments and civil society at large; all relevant parties are to take concerted and coherent action. If the concept of work is absent in the poverty alleviation strategies, it means that most of the objectives of PRS will not be achieved. To invest in decent work means to invest in sustainable economic growth."
The General Secretary of the NLC, John Odah berated the Nigerian elite for serving the interest of the foreign financial institutions saying the current attempt at reviewing the laws could weaken labour unions in the country.
His words: "The Rain School like the Harmatan School, is designed to build the capacity of our members. Therefore, the theme like any other year is located within the context of what is happening in our country today. The labour law pending before the National Assembly is seen by some people as an avenue to weaken the trade unions in the country for the benefit of the few. We do not have patriotic leaders in Nigeria. The kinds of people that we have are those that hide under providing the so-called provision of conducive atmosphere for foreign direct investment to enslave workers. This so-called elite is agent of foreign financial institutions; they are not patriotic. Therefore, what we did at this year's Rain School is situate the reform effort within the context of decent work agenda. There can't be decent work when work environment is not conducive for workers. Before we can achieve decent work, conducive operating environment must be provided for workers that the labour reform is capable of doing but is being upturned by agents of those that do not wish workers well. We are using this platform to let Nigerian working people know the challenges that lie ahead."
Odah further observed that if the labour laws were made more flexible as being canvassed, it could encourage both foreign and domestic companies to be complacent in the provision of safety guides at work places.
According to the NLC scribe, in a country where there was dearth of labour inspectors and scarcity of patriotic elite and functional system to ensure compliance with rules and regulations, strong labour laws were needed to ensure compliance with minimum supervision.
"In foreign countries, they have people observing and ensuring compliance but in our own context here, the Inspectorate Division in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity is non-functional and in a sorry state as people there don't know their left from their right. They neither have facilities nor the right calibre of factory inspectors to do what they suppose to do. What we will have if the labour laws are passed the way it is presented to the National Assembly, workers will be left at the mercies of the employers," he said.
In Odah's thinking, the protection of human capital as exemplified by the working class should be protected but saying rather worryingly, "the Nigerian government is preoccupied with effecting laws that will further impoverish the Nigerian working people with a forceful push for labour laws that will leave workers in poorer and more helpless."
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