Monday October 7, 2013, Nigerian Affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union namely National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN) and National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) together with civil society coalition under the Joint Action Forum and Democratic Socialist Movement joined their counterparts all over the world to mark the World Day for Decent Work.
The unions led by the Chairman, IndustriALL Global Union, African Region and General Secretary of NUTGTWN, Comrade Issa Aremu mni together with their civil society allies organized a mass rally and road show in the ever busy streets of Lagos calling for a STOP of all forms of precarious employment. For IndustriALL Global Union, the decent work day provide a critical platform to further strengthen its Stop Precarious Work Campaign and remind employers and Governments to act responsibly on matters affecting workers and welfare and also mobilize and call workers to action in putting a stop to all forms of violations of the rights of workers.
Addressing the crowd that gathered at the Textile Labour House on ACME Road, Ogba Lagos, Comrade Issa Aremu reminded that the Struggle for decent work is historical. He recalled that workers in colonial employment in the mines, railway and colonial public service were not only paid poor wages, they were discriminated against and denied the right to form trade union.
He saluted the enormous sacrifices of the heroes of Trade union movement like Pa Michael Imoudu, H.P Adebola, S.U. Bassey, Wahab Goodluck and others, in negotiating freedom, improved pay and the right to form unions during brutal colonial period.
He stated workers and trade unions are concerned that there is a new form of colonialism in which employers are destroying the many gains of workers struggle. Employers now engage workers on temporary basis without good pay, god conditions of work, good health and safety provision, social protection and very important without the right to join the union.
Other speakers including the president of CANMPSSAN, comrade A.G. Mohammed and the Secretary of JAF, Comrade Abiodun Aremu emphasized that the campaign to stop precarious work is critical in our struggle to restore the right of workers to organize and join the union as the basis for collective bargaining and social dialogue.
The unions demanded instead for a stable and secure workforce as well as respect for and enforcement of labour rights as they march in their large numbers through the Ikeja industrial area and into two notorious non-unionized factories in Lagos namely Dura Pack and Majestic PP Woven Sack Ltd. The unions got the management of the two factories to respect the rights of workers to belong to union. A local branch of 7 executives was immediately constituted in Dura Pack as the Management of Majestic PP Woven Sack signed an agreement to allow workers join the union.
Before now, the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria and National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Products Employees have been in serious battle with the management of these factories in an attempt to organize the two workplaces. Workers from these two companies expressed profound appreciation to IndustriALL Global Union for the unionization and an end to a culture of impunity from employer who subject workers to compulsory 12 hours work a day without a clear contract of employment in clear violation of Nigeria Labour Laws and International Labour Conventions.
For the workers of Durapack and majestic PP Woven Sack, it was a day of freedom as they jubilated and danced to union solidarity songs. The unions are also committed to building on the momentum to ensure that the process of unionization is carried through and that workers are not unduely victimized for joining the union and that other workers in similar conditions are brought under the umbrella of the union
The struggle continues.
