2020: FORWARD EVER WITH UNION BUILDING AND DEFENSE OF WORKERS’ RIGHTS
GREETINGS
We greet all our members in the industry and informal sector where the tailors reside. We also salute our friends and comrades in fraternal unions in the NLC and IndustriALL Global Union. Repositioning our great Union-is-work-in progress in 2020. 2019 witnessed remarkable union work in defense of members’ rights. Textile union is the first private sector union to proactively implement the new minimum wage of N30,000 through collective bargaining and negotiation with the Textile Employers Association (NTMA).
It is also commendable that the leadership has moved to reform the existing structures of the union in the face of decline in membership and the challenges facing the industry.
GASKIYA TEXTILES KANO
The union is proud to have won the long struggle for the payment of workers of Gaskiya Textiles Kano after the closure of the factory in 2005. It’s being a long road to justice for as many as 460 workers who had lost hope of getting their entitlements but made possible through union struggle. Many workers recently shed tears of joy as they were paid N138 million outstanding benefits from the proceeds from sale of the company’s scraps. The union Hails the Kano Zonal officers and branch executive for their effort and commitment to ensure the payment of the outstanding benefits of the workers after prolonged legal and industrial actions. In the past 15 years, through industrial pressure and protracted legal struggles, both the Union and Management eventually ensured the payment of members entitlements.
INDUSTRY
2019 witnessed a renewed hope for revival of the textile industry following series of engagement by the Federal government with industry stakeholders that include the union within the framework of the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) value chain.
HISTORIC COURTESY VISIT TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
The leadership of the union led by the President, Comrade John Adaji and General Secretary, Comrade Issa Aremu, mni in company of National Administrative Council (NAC) Members and some other national officers of the union and members of the Nigeria Textile, Garment and Tailoring Employers Association on Tuesday July 23 2019 paid a historic courtesy visit to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
The Union paid similar courtesy call on the Vice President of Nigeria, His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo, GCON on Thursday August 13, 2017
The visit to President Buhari offered opportunity to acknowledge and commend the effort of President Buhari in changing the narrative of textile from that of closure of factories to a bold revival efforts that will (to use the words of His Excellency) revive the ‘good old days’ of cotton, textile and garment sectors. In appreciation of the commendable effort by President Muhammadu Buhari to revive the textile industry, he was conferred with the honour of Life Patron of the Union and was decorated by the union’s President, Comrade John Adaji. President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled. The CTG policy and reiterated the commitment of his administration to revive labour intensive textile industry.
On Tuesday 29 October, 2019 the CBN facilitated the historic signing of an unprecedented MOU between the Service Chiefs, Chief Executives of Uniformed Services, and textile/ garment manufacturers on enforcement of Executive Order 003 on Support of Local Content in Procurement By MDAs. With this MOU, uniforms for navy, police, army, NYSC, customs, civil defence among others are to be sourced locally from the Nigerian CTG sector in pursuance of the current administration’s drive towards economic diversification and creating jobs for our teeming population. The Federal government also recently closed the land boarders to curtail the menace of smuggling and ensure fair trade.
2020: TIME FOR CONSOLIDATION
In 2020 textile union demands for:
· Massive patronage of locally produced textiles by MDAs.
· Establishment of the Ministry of Textile as it has been done in India, China and Pakistan. The objective of the proposed Ministry would be regular upgrading of the textile value chains, improve on labour productivity, maximize value-addition and formulate strategies and programme to enable the textile sector to meet the challenges to attain global competitiveness.
· Combat Smuggling and Counterfeiting of textile products:- The fiscal authorities must try and compliment the commendable efforts of the CBN monetary and development financing measures. The Customs Service has recorded some achievements in combating smuggling. But more should be done. Customs Service should come out with the new creative measures that must include consistent raids of the warehouses of smugglers in Kano, Lagos, Kaduna and other cities of the Federation.
· Presidential task-force be set up. It should be made up of Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Textile Workers Union and Manufactures Association of Nigeria (MAN). It should have the power to confiscate goods smuggled into the country and burn them.
· Improved electricity supply:- There can never be industrialization without constant supply of electricity.
· Training and Retraining of the Work Force:- For textile industry to be competitive, textile, garment and tailoring workers must be trained and retrained. The union therefore calls on President Buhari to direct the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in collaboration with the CBN to provide special fund to retrain the textile work force for the challenges of revival.
Happy New year!!!
John Adaji
PRESIDENT
Issa Aremu, mni
GENERAL SECRETARY
NEC MEMBER, NLC
VICE PRESIDENT, INDUSTRIALL GLOBAL UNION
