Senators, CNPP, US body oppose anti-labour bill
- [ 25/04/2008
]
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 disappointed 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 organization is not the best way to prevent strikes. It is through good governance and dialogue", the official insisted.
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