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Senate stops NLC rally
Senate stops
NLC rally
•Writes security agencies
NDIDI
OKAFOR, Abuja and FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Lagos
BARELY
24 hours to the proposed protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the
Trade Union (Amendment) Bill, the Senate yesterday warned the Congress to steer
clear of the National Assembly Complex today.
Already, the Upper Legislative
House had written to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Tafa Balogun
banning NLC from protesting to the Assembly Complex.
The Senate did this just as the
Labour leaders and human rights activists declared that the provisions of the
bill would draw the country backward.
The letter warning NLC not to
protest at the premises of the federal legislature was signed by Majority
Leader, Senator Dalhatu Tafida and forwarded to the Congress.
NLC led by Mr. Adams Oshiomhole
had planned a nation-wide protest against the bill which seeks to make strike
dependent upon the consent of two-thirds majority of other unions.
The bill which had been described
in some quarters as one which is targeted at emasculating the NLC, will be
debated today in the Senate.
But the Upper Chamber had written
to kick against the planned protest, our source said, and asked Labour to make
its presentation "to the relevant committee during a public hearing on the
bill."
The debate on the bill was
"stood down" last week by the Senate to enable its members prepare
meaningful contributions to it.
The executive bill had generated
some heat even as Labour vowed to protest against it across the country, today.
Already, security had been beefed
up at the Complex to forestall possible breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile, in Lagos yesterday,
both Labour leaders and human rights activists brainstormed on the proposed
Labour amendment Act, declaring that it had the potential of drawing the nation
backward.
At a symposium on the Trade
Union Act Amendment Bill: Issues Involved, organised by the Kolagbodi
Memorial Foundation (KMF) and Campaign for Democracy (CD) at Yaba, Lagos,
speakers picked holes in the bill which they said if passed, would leave the
political leaders without opposition and thereby encourage civilian
dictatorship.
They argued that deregistering
the NLC and putting the unions at the mercy of the Labour minister as the bill
suggests, was tantamount to the denial of the fundamental rights of the workers
to freedom of association as enshrined in the constitution.
General Secretary of the
Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and
Recreational Services Employees (AUCPTRE), Mr. Sylvester Ejiofor, said Nigeria
needed a strong Labour organisation to move out from her stage of
underdevelopment.
"Once NLC is dismantled,
there will be unguided multiple labour centre which may create confusion and
therefore unable to check the excesses of their federating units or collate
their members’ views," he said.
In his remarks, Chief John
Kolawole, the secretary-general of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria said
there was nothing wrong in reform of Labour "but that such reform must
encapsulate the views and position of the stakeholders."
He said TUC was in support of the
bill to the extent that it allowed other labour centres to be registered but
that certain provisions in the bill will be inimical to vibrant labour.
He stressed level-playing should
be provided for the junior workers as represented by the NLC and their senior
staff as represented by the TUC.
"We support the bill but certainly we oppose
tampering with the NLC. No union would survive if registered and controlled by
the government, then the essence of the reform would have been defeated, workers
unions should be allowed to evolve from the workers themselves," he added.
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