• Court stops PENGASSAN’s strike against Dangote Refinery
By Bimbola Oyesola
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) last night issued a 72-hour mobilisation alert to its affiliates should Dangote Group resist the unionisation of workers across all its conglomerates in the country.
The NLC accused the conglomerate of operating with impunity, violating workers’ rights and engaging in systemic union-busting across its facilities.
In an urgent internal memo signed by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and addressed to affiliate unions, organised labour declared that the time for negotiation had passed and that only decisive action could confront what it called a deliberate “anti-worker crusade.”
“The time for pleading and endless, fruitless dialogue is over. The moment for decisive, collective action is now,” Ajaero said in the memo.
The NLC accused the Dangote Group of behaving like “a state within a state” by allegedly ignoring Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of association, and flouting international conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), including Conventions 87 and 98.
According to the Congress, Dangote facilities are “not workplaces but plantations of exploitation, where the dignity of the worker is systematically crushed to maximise profit for the few.”
The NLC claimed that the ongoing dispute between Dangote and oil sector unions, including the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) was only a symptom of a deeper pattern of anti-labour practices by the company.
As part of its response, the NLC has placed all its affiliates on full alert. The unions involved include the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and non Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), textile union, NUTGTWN, NUMW, ISSAN, SEWUN, MEPROSSAN and NUAAE.
Each union has been instructed to immediately begin a vigorous campaign to unionise workers in all Dangote Group facilities under their jurisdiction. This, the NLC stressed, is a strategic priority to break what it describes as a culture of fear and intimidation within the conglomerate.
The unions are also expected to set up Action Mobilisation Committees and report to the NLC National Secretariat within 72 hours for coordination of logistics, strategy, and communication ahead of possible nationwide action.
The NLC outlined three key demands from Dangote: unconditional respect for workers’ rights to join a union of their choice, an end to all forms of intimidation and victimisation, and compliance with Nigeria’s labour laws and regulatory institutions.
Ajaero warned that any attempt by Dangote to rely on public relations campaigns or government inaction would be futile.
“No amount of media verbiage and paid hirelings will stop us from fighting for our liberty in the face of apparent regulatory capture where the state seems to have abdicated its responsibility to hold this behemoth accountable.”
The NLC accused the Federal Government of failing to rein in Dangote’s alleged breaches of labour rights, saying the conglomerate had grown into a powerful entity shielded from accountability.
He argued that Nigerian workers have sacrificed immensely to build the Dangote empire, and they will not allow it to “become a monument to their oppression.”
“The impunity of the Dangote Group must be met with the resistance of organised labour. Together, we stand! Together, we will overcome,” Ajaero declared in the closing lines of the memo.
Civil servants vow to join strike
Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has vowed to join the industrial action should workers rights continue to be trampled upon.
The National President, Shehu Mohammed, stated that arbitrary dismissal of workers for exercising their constitutional right to freely associate and belong to a trade union was a gross violation of Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution and a direct breach of Nigeria’s obligations under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.
“Such acts are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated in a democracy. We, therefore, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with TUC and PENGASSAN in demanding the immediate reinstatement of all affected workers just as we support the call for an independent investigation into the refinery’s anti-worker practices,” he said.
He commended the decision of TUC to place affiliates on stand-by for a possible national action should these demands not be met.
He warned that if the matter is not resolved within a reasonable time frame, the ASCSN might be compelled to join the national action in full force, in defence of workers’ rights and to ensure justice is done.
The union reiterated that an injury to one worker is an injury to all and that no employer, regardless of size or influence, would be allowed to trample upon the rights and dignity of Nigerian workers.
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