ABUJA— THE Senate yesterday passed President Olusegun Obasanjo’s amendment bill to the Trade Union Act, stipulating among others that the support of a majority of workers is required to declare a strike action. The passage of the amendment bill immediately triggered controversy as some Senators criticised deliberation on such an important bill without the needed quorum of members present to concur. Besides, some Senators queried the passage of the bill without the attendance of the chairman and members of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity who worked on the bill.
Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, who presided at yesterday’s session, dismissed objections raised by Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PDP, Abia North), warning him that “enough is enough” during one of the flash points that shadowed the passage of the bill.
High points of the bill passed are the removal of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as the country’s central labour organisation, voluntary membership of unions, an obligation on employers to only remit union dues from workers who expressly permit so in writing. Besides, the Senate added a sanction of N10,000 or six months imprisonment for violations of the act.
The Senate, however, adopted the committee’s recommendation, striking out the administration’s insertion of a no strike clause in the bill.
Responding to the passage of the bill, one Senator told Vanguard that yesterday’s rushed passage of the bill amounted to deceit, saying that majority of Senators were taken unawares by the leadership’s determination in passing through the bill in the absence of a quorum. “This action is bound to generate ripples and it would be untoward for all those in the leadership who masterminded this coup against Senators.”It is even more annoying that the chairman, the vice-chairman and members of the committee were not available to comment on the report that was passed through,” the Senator who was away on official assignment told Vanguard on telephone yesterday.
Another Senator in the chamber told Vanguard that efforts to alert the Senate president of the absence of a quorum were rebuffed by Senator Wabara, who he accussed of unnecessarily trying to please the PDP leadership on the issue.
The only opposition raised on the Senate floor came from Senator Chukwumerije who in the course of his objection received harsh words from Senator Wabara for his condemnation of the haste in the passage of the bill. The Senate president warned Senator Chukwumerije that “enough is enough” after the latter insinuated that the rushed passage of the labour amendment bill might portray the Senate in bad light in history.
