Agbakoba, Oroh, others
fault NLC on bill
By Habib Aruna,
Bolaji Adepegba
(Lagos)
Bassey Udo (Abuja)
and Gbenga Faturoti
(Osogbo)
Fellow travellers with
Labour in the fight for democracy, human rights and social justice have faulted
its approach to stopping the Trade Union Bill from being passed by the National
Assembly.
They said there is
nothing wrong with the bill meant to reform the trade unions since the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC) is a creation of the military.
Regardless of the
views, workers in the 774 councils nationwide will continue to pay check-offs
from their salaries to the NLC even after the pending Labour reforms, says
the Nigeria Union of Local
Government Employees (NULGE).
NULGE General
Secretary Abubakar Salam said the union’s resolve to stick with the NLC
is not only in recognition of the internal rules and regulations guiding its
operations, but also because of the confidence it has in the congress and the
need to continue its funding to enable it fight for the interests of workers.
But knocking the NLC,
former President of the Civil Liberty Organisation Olisa Agbakoba, House of
Representatives members Abdul Oroh and Uche Onyeagocha all said things might
have turn out differently if its leadership had adopted a more pro-active
approach.
“If they end up
passing the bill, the issue will be whether it is constitutional. Femi Falana
is representing the NLC in court. Tactically, I would have gone to court after
the bill has been passed,” said Agbakoba.
Agbakoba said he does
not see anything bad in reforming Labour through the bill because the NLC was a
creation of the military and it is only ideal that in a democratic dispensation,
it should be reformed to enable it conform to the realities of the day.
His words: “I
don’t see it as a problem. Honestly I don’t. I see it as a way to
discover things that we have been doing wrongly. The act came about when the
soldiers wanted to control the NLC. Because it was put in place by soldiers it
is now outdated”.
Also, Oroh and
Onyeagocha said the method of the NLC in reaching out to the leadership of the
National Assembly is deficient and premature, whereas meeting with pro-Labour
members of the Assembly would have been more effective.
“The bill has
only passed through the first reading which is just to mention the title of the
bill but nothing else has happened. And I think we will look at it
dispassionately”, Oroh stated.
In his contribution,
Onyeagocha said he met with the leadership of the NLC and expressed his
solidarity with it as well as his disappointment at what the leadership of the
National Assembly did about the rally that was not allowed to hold there.
However, another
backing for the NLC came from the first All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC)
which ended at the weekend. It called on the Federal Government reconsider its
position on the bill.
A communiqué
issued at the end of the conference, signed by Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE)
President Baba Halilu Dantiye and NGE General Secretary Angela Agoawike noted
the reasons advanced by the Presidency in articulating it as well as the
objection to it by civil society and Labour groups.
The conference
resolved that in the face of more pressing economic concerns, a forceful
democratisation of Labour should not occupy the government now. Workers should be allowed the right to
determine the shape of their union, it said.
Reiterating its
continued support for the NLC, NULGE said it recognises that collective
bargaining requires tripartitism, he insisted, and that none of the three
parties; comprising the government, employers and workers; should have monopoly
or constitute itself as the Alfa and Omega on Labour-related matters.
