The Senate yesterday
suspended debate on
the anti-Labour Bill due to lack of quorum.
The Senate leader, Senator Dalhatu Tafida, moved for the consideration of the Bill by the Senate and was seconded by Senator Daniel Saror who suggested that the debate be stood down, noting that senators were not served notice about the consideration of the Bill.
Senator Saror further said: “I wish to urge this Se-nate to stand down this Bill in our own interest until such a time that we are all ready. The Bill is very important to the nation.”
Senator Olorunuimbe Mamora, told the Senate that he has not received any notice in respect of the Bill, adding that the anti-labour Bill is very crucial and should not be considered without a full house.
“I believe that we have all agreed that we would have a notice in respect of the business for the subsequent day. To the best of my knowledge, the labour Bill was not put on notice and the issue is so important that we ought to have a full house before considering it,” he argued.
Senator Mamman Ali also asked the Senate to suspend the consideration of the Bill so that it could be slated for a legislative day conducive for treating it. At this point, the Senate President, Adol-phus Wabara, asserted that. “I disagree with you that we need a full house before considering the Bill. It is clear that we are placed on notice for the treatment of the Bill,” he said.
When the Senate President put the question whe-ther the Senate can go ahead to consider the Bill or not, the Senate unanimously said No, following which consideration of the Bill was shifted to the next legislative day which is Tuesday August 24.
At the time the Bill comes up for consideration, there were only 34 senators in attendance at the plenary while a number of 37 Senators is required to form a quorum on the floor of the Senate that has a membership of one hundred and ninety.
The Bill which has been generating a lot of contro-versy came up for consider-ation by the Senate a day after the Nigeria Labour Congress wrote to the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, urging them to reject the Bill which labour says is aimed at denying workers the right to colle-ctively oppose bad policies of the federal government.
Meanwhile, the minister of labour and productivity, Dr Hassan Muhammad Lawal, yesterday warned that the planned rally by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), over the Trade Uni-ons Act Amendment Bill, has the potential to cause chaos and anarchy in the country.
The NLC had on Tuesday announced plans to conduct a rally on Tuesday, August 24, 2004, to sensitize workers across the country and members of the National Assembly on the dangers of amending the Trade Unions Act, which seeks to proscribe the NLC and ban strikes.
Speaking to Daily Trust in Abuja, the minister who described the planned rally as an aberration, said that no group or individual has ever organised a rally to compel the National Assembly to take decision on matters that have to do with law making and amendments.
Dr Lawal said gover-nment will not condone any violence, stressing that the planned rally goes to suggest that the congress does not have the interest, peace and stability of the country at heart.
He said the best way for the NLC as far as the Labour Bill is concerned, is for the congress to raise its points and objections to counter the position of government.
The labour minister also disclosed that the existence of the Nigeria Labour Cong-ress as the only central labour organisation in the country was a gross violation of Convention 87 and standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“The present practice of labour administration which makes the NLC, the only central labour organisation in Nigeria, is not in conformity with the minimum standards stipulated by the ILO convention.
“Nigeria has on several occasions been queried by the ILO because of the inclu-sion of Part III of the Trade Unions Act, which created one central labour organi-sation. The latest query was in 2002 and the same query frowns at section 33(2) of the Trade Unions Act, which deems all registered trade unions to be affiliated to the central labour organisation,” he said.
According to him, in order to set aside the monopoly of the NLC, section 13 (1) of the proposed amend-ment Bill completely deletes part III of the subsisting Trade Unions Act thereby removing the present situa-tion of a unitary central labour organisation and bringing it into conformity with international labour practices.
The minister said also that the creation of confed-eration of trade unions in the country as envisaged by the proposed amendment Bill would create a forum for the cross-fertilisation of ideas on government policies that affects the interest and well-being of Nigerian workers.
He said that the concentration of power in one central labour body like the NLC, creates what he referred to as “a breeding ground for the abuse of such powers.”
He said that the leadership of the NLC used blac-kmail, propaganda and in some cases violence, to foist its views on workers across the country due to lack of a legally recognised platform for dissent.
Meanwhile, the NLC has filed a suit at an Abuja high court, challenging the federal government over the prop-osed Bill, asking for an injun-ction restraining the National Assembly from deliberating on or passing the Bill.
The Progressive Action Congress (PAC), however described the Bill as a consp-iracy between President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Assembly to foist a dictatorship on the country.
PAC, in a statement sig-ned by its national chairman, Mr Charles Nwodo, made available to Daily Trust in Abuja yesterday, said it was shocked that despite natio-nwide condemnations, the legislature appeared bent on passing the legislation.
The party therefore called on all Nigerians to rally round the NLC and protest attempts to pass the Bill, which seeks to restrict the freedom of labour.
“It appears that the National Assembly and the presidency are working in tandem against the working people of Nigeria to deny them their fundamental right to freely engage in labour activities without let or hindrance…
“As a progressive political party, we are unequ-ivocally opposed to any attempt and under ground guise to foist a dictatorship on our fatherland,” the statement said.
Expressing concern that the president and the legislature were bent on testing the peoples will, PAC said the attempt to decentralise and weaken labour was “a further conspiracy to consolidate fascism and dictatorship on 21st century Nigeria by the PDP-led federal government.”
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