RECESSION: Workers’ll no longer be sacrificial lambs, Labour warns.

THE 5th Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference, NDC, of the National Union of Chemical Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees, NUCFRLANMPE, that took place in Abuja  was remarkable in many respects.

One of it was that it provided another opportunity for Labour leaders to review the ongoing recession and its effects on workers declaring that Organised  Labour will no longer accept a situation where workers are being made scapegoats to the economic recession through non-payment of salaries, reduction of salaries and and even retrenchment.

Labour leaders at the NDC, insisted that outside the issue of the fall of the crude oil price and the exchange rate, the irresponsibilities of the nation’s political leaders, were major contributors to the economic recession.

Economic recession

Among the speakers were    Ayuba Wabba , factional President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC,  Vice President  IndustriALL Global Union  and General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, Issa Aremu, and President of NUCFRAMMPE, Boniface Isok.

Speaking, Wabba insisted that as Organised    Labour and workers, they were not going to accept being victims of the recession, but part of the  solution, saying    a “lot has been said about what we are going through.  Workers create wealth. If we create the wealth, we cannot destroy the wealth. Those that have destroyed the wealth and have also appropriated our wealth, who are responsible for the recession, should be held responsible. If we are not the cause, why should we be at the receiving end. We are no longer going to accept such a situation where workers are at the receiving end. Workers are not being paid, their salaries are being reduced and not only that, they are being sacked. We will no longer accept being victims of the irresponsibilities of our political leaders.”

He    called for improved purchasing power of workers to purchase to keep the manufacturing sector afloat, contending that    “the issue in the manufacturing sector is very dicey    because if you produce and people do not have the capacity to buy, the situation cannot be improved. As industries are producing, there must be capacity for people to also buy. If you produce and we cannot buy, then we will degenerate into a worse situation.”

Wage increase: Corroborating Wabba,  Aremu said   “If workers are  not the cause of the recession, we cannot be blamed and sacrificed. As a matter of fact, Nigerian workers are part of the solution. When the rich complain of recession, then the poor must have been in depression. The time we got a minimum wage of N18, 000 in 2010, it was exchanged for between 120 and 125 Dollars. But today, a Dollar is exchanging for close to N450 and above. So, if the government and employers are talking about recession, the Nigerian workers are already depressed.

“The only way to get out of recession is for us to improve on the minimum wage for workers. Workers salaries are spent in Nigeria. They do not take their salaries to Dubai, Europe or America to spend. They use their salaries to buy goods that are produced at home. It is only when goods are sold that the factories can continue to produce. So, it is important that for recovery, we must improve workers’ wages so that we can improve on effective demand for our goods to be bought and the factory can stay alive.”

2000  workers retrenched: In his valedictory speech, Isok lamented that the sector had been one of the most hit by the economic recession, saying over 2000 union members had lost their jobs to the recession.

According to him, the theme of this 5th Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference “Survival    Strategies in a Depressed Economy” is timely and appropriate for discourse now that nation’s economy is taking the reverse gear and the concerns of every individual and organisation is the way forward.”

He decried the situation in the sector, saying “ many factories have been turned to worship centres while some have become homes for miscreants where all sorts of criminal activities are taking place. In the last four months, the union has lost 2000 of its members to redundancy. The recent depletion in membership is unprecedented in the history of our great union. It is saddening that the fighting spirit of the union has been weakened by the dictates of the economy in recent times. As employers are bearing this brunt, so also are the employees. Therefore, there is the urgent need for our union and employers to evolve strategies for sustaining the industry.”

NUCFRLAMPE elects new leaders

NATIONAL Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees, NUCFRLAMNPE, has elected Mr. Babatunde Olatunji, a staff of Vital Foam Plc, to lead the union for the next four years.

Speaking after  defeating his challenger, Mr Lazarus Opara with    272 votes    to  60 votes, at the conference in Abuja, he promised among others,  to tackle unfair Labour practices especially outsourcing and casualisation of workers in the sector.

He  also pledged a cordial relationship with employers to improve the welfare of workers since thousands of them have already lost their jobs due to economic recession.

Olatunji who    took over from Mr Boniface Isok, insisted that the new leadership would ensure that uncompleted projects by his predicessor were completed.