|
 Daily
Independent Online.
* Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
Senators, CNPP, US body
oppose anti-labour bill
•N/Assembly reconvenes tomorrow
By Uchenna
Awom,
Chesa
Chesa (Abuja)
and Chinedu Offor
(Washington
DC)
Opposition
came thick and fast from home and abroad on Monday against plans by Aso
Rock to decentralise the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), seen by many as
an effective proscription of the labour movement in Nigeria and,
therefore, unhealthy for the democratic experiment.
The National Assembly is cutting short its six-week recess to
reconvene tomorrow to deliberate on the bill as well as on another by
President Olusegun Obasanjo requesting N2.5 billion contingency funds to
tackle emergency situations.
Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu announced the reconvention
on Monday after a meeting of principal officers of both chambers of the
National Assembly, chaired by Senate President Adolphus Wabara.
He would not divulge details of what the lawmakers would be
reconvening for as he merely replied that urgent national issues
necessitated it.
At home, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP)
added its voice to the mounting furore against the bill that may lead to
the proscription of Labour.
It described the move as the “final phase of the fascist regime’s
dirty war to strangulate, emasculate and fractionalise the Adams
Oshiomhole-led patriotic NLC”.
A statement issued in Abuja by CNPP National Publicity Secretary
Osita Okeke said opposition parties, after a careful analysis of the
proposal, concluded that the government’s anti-democratic credential is
the most dangerous threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
CNPP said it had earlier alerted the nation to “the grand design
and the fascist tendencies of the Obasanjo’s failed regime, characterised
by monumental corruption, insensitive and anti-people programmes”.
CNPP, Okeke added, is asking Nigerians to show solidarity and
support for NLC and gird
their loins in the battle ahead to save the country. He challenged
members of the National Assembly to reject the bill ‘or enroll their
names in the hall of infamy”.
Abroad, one of the world's most influential labour unions is throwing its weigh
behind NLC in the current face-off with the government.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO
) said it would lobby
for international political
and economic isolation of
Nigeria if President
Olusegun Obasanjo carries
out his threat to scrap NLC.
AFL-CIO Deputy Director International Department Tim Beaty said
in an interview that the organisation is concerned about reports that a bill is in the offing to break
the monopoly of NLC.
"We know NLC to
be a democratic, progressive structure representing important
stakeholders in the country. It is contradictory on the part of the
government to say such an organisation representing citizens that are
workers would be a
subversive force", he stated.
Obasanjo had complained to the National Assembly over its
withdrawal of the contingency funds from the 2004 Appropriation Bill and
that it is now hampering the Presidency’s management of emergency
situations in areas such as Plateau State.
Also, following recurrent nationwide strikes initiated by NLC
over fuel price hikes the government has made up its mind to clip the
wings of the labour movement by curtailing much of its clout over member
associations or setting up parallel bodies.
Although it is yet to brought to the floor of the National
Assembly, the bill on the decentralisation of NLC, touted as the proscription of the union, is
already receiving the flak of some senators who are gearing up to give
the bill a tough fight.
In their opinion, any attempt to so deal with NLC is a threat to
democracy and a denial of the right of workers to association and
expression.
Speaking the minds of many of his colleagues in the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP), Senator Farouk Bello (Kebbi) said NLC is not a
threat to democracy as alleged by Vice President Atiku Abubakar but that
the attempt to proscribe it is dictatorial and a threat to democracy.
“There is no way such a bill can be presented on the floor of the
Senate and it would be passed as a law. I think Nigerians will disown us
as their representatives”, he said, adding that the people would be given
the opportunity to make their input during a public hearing that would be
held by the Senate Committee on Labour.
Echoing that view, Senate Labour and Productivity Committee Chairman
Bassey Ewa Henshaw (Cross River) said he was yet to see the proposed bill
but that he supports the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
convention signed by Nigeria which allows workers to form unions and
associate under whatever umbrella.
He noted that while the convention makes it clear that such
unions should be run in a democratic manner, governments must, in dealing
with them, abide by the requirements of ILO.
Said Henshaw: “If the workers agree among themselves to have only
one central labour organisation, then it does not violate any law but if
the workers prefer more than one body and NLC frustrates that, it would
not have complied with ILO convention. The important thing is that it has
to be a democratic process, determined solely by the workers”.
In the US, Beaty said AFL-CIO would also
work with the International
Congress of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to bring pressure on Nigeria to reverse course, adding: "All our members will oppose
strongly any attempt by the Nigerian Government to
interfere in the affairs of NLC through multi-lateral response
".
In his view, the Nigerian Government has no business in the
running of the congress and the activities of its elected leaders.
Said he: “Workers should determine through democratic processes the structure and
leadership of NLC and threatening to scrap the autonomy as a pay back for
going on strike in unacceptable".
Some officials in the US Department of Labour said they are also
keeping a close watch on
Abuja’s intentions.
One said he would be
very dissapointed if
Obasanjo "supports and signs such an undemocratic bill designed to weaken the ability of workers
to pressure for improved standards of living and acting as a check on
government excesses".
He added that the administration will contact Abuja on the status of the bill and reasons for introducing it to lawmakers.
"There must be
other ways for Labour and the Nigerian Government to resolve their
differences. Dissolving the central labour organisation is not the best way
to prevent strikes. It is through good governamce and dialogue", the
official insisted.
|
