Percy Onyeka
Ahead of the expected resumption of negotiation between the Federal Government and the organized labour on the new Minimum Wage, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is meeting in Abuja to brainstorm so as to arrive at a living wage that is commensurate with the prevailing cost of living.
This is as the NLC has vowed not to be deterred by the recent assault on workers and their leaders in Imo State which it said poses a grave threat to freedom of association and collective bargaining as enshrined in the 1999 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining.
These were contained in the welcome address by the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, at the Opening Session of the NLC 2023 Harmattan School with the theme: “Building Workers’ Skills for Policy Engagement” in Abuja.
Ajaero, who was represented by the Congress Deputy President, Benjamin Anthony said:
“In the face of adversity and brutality encountered while advocating for the rights of workers to earn their legitimate income and benefits, our resolve remains unwavering. We are motivated to continue our efforts towards achieving decent work and improving working conditions in the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
“The recent assault on workers and their leaders in Imo State poses a grave threat to freedom of association and collective bargaining as enshrined in Section 40 of the 1999 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining, and should unequivocally be condemned by all people of goodwill.
“The only thing that can assuage our pains is for the Imo State Government to address all labour issues and return the so called ‘ghost workers’ to their jobs, pay all outstanding salaries and pensions and call back all victimized workers to their jobs.
“It has become very necessary for governments at all levels to recognize that life and living conditions are exceedingly difficult, especially for working people in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
“The removal of subsidy on petroleum products has further exacerbated the challenges faced by working people, unleashing severe pain and contributing to galloping inflation and increasing inequality and poverty.
“We must reckon that a well-motivated and well-remunerated workforce has a positive impact on productivity and national development.
“As we anticipate the commencement of negotiations for the National Minimum Wage in 2024, we seek the understanding of all stakeholders to ensure that we use this opportunity to arrive at a Minimum Wage commensurate with the prevailing cost of living.
“The ultimate goal, though, is to establish a living wage that covers the cost of living and make allowance for some savings by the workers.
“Since the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the mid-1980s and subsequent wholesale adoption of neoliberal economy framework, there has been a sustained disruption of the social pillars of society through the pullback of public spending on the provision of social services.
“These austerity measures have significantly impacted on the quality of life of workers, peasants and the poor, thus creating an urgent need for collaboration with broad segment of the society to form a formidable force for sustained policy engagement with the governments at all levels.
“Comrades, apart from the Rain and Harmattan Schools which are the flagships of the NLC educational programmes, the Congress will make every necessary efforts to ensure that its other educational programmes like the State Level School and the Study Circle are given due attention to make impact on the workers, especially in the states and at the shop floor levels.”
The NLC President implored participants to approach the training programme with a quest and thirst for knowledge through asking of questions and sharing of experiences with the facilitators and with one another.
He said, “The theme of the NLC 2023 Harmattan School, “Building Workers’ Skills for Policy Engagement” is very apt, given the importance of skill and knowledge in policy processes and engagements.
“In the ever changing world of work, as trade unions, we should prepare ourselves to engage with the employers in the workplace and government in the interest of the workers and the masses. In order to efficiently engage any policy, whether at the level of the workplace or the larger society, the trade unions must equip their members to understand policy making processes, its implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
“In the workplace, trade unions contend with policy on training, health and safety, HIV/AIDS, gender based violence and so on. At the level of government, trade unions deal with macroeconomic policies, industrial policy, climate change policy and many more.
“To start the process of policy development requires a very comprehensive understanding of the problem the policy is intended to address. This can be done through collection of the relevant data, the study of the impact assessment on the sampled area of policy development and the need to identify the implicit cause of the problem being studied for policy development.
“It is also important to understand the legal and regulatory framework concerning the policy processes. Hence, we need to be acquainted with the relevant laws, the rules and regulations governing the issue for which the policy is being developed.
“Unions as democratic institutions and the voice of the working people and the masses rely very heavily on the consensual inputs and contributions of the members to take decisions. It is on this premise that as trade unions, we must reach out to our members to tap and gather data from their experiences to create policy choices to ascertain the impact assessment of the policy on the members and the people.
“A very good policy document is not good enough, if it is not well implemented for the benefits of the people or the organization concerned. As a union activist, one thing that I have noticed over the years, that is lacking in the trade unions or that is not being done effectively is monitoring and evaluation of our programmes and policies.
“We must develop mechanism to monitor and evaluate our policies and programmes to know how impactful they have been on our members.
“Trade unions as advocacy and workers’ rights organizations cannot function effectively to fight for the rights and defend the interests of their members, if they do not have a handle on how to craft good policies that will take into consideration the interests of their members. This is more so, as they will not undertake effectively their primary responsibilities like engaging in collective bargaining, dispute resolution, protection of workers to fair wage, agitate for safe working conditions, enforcement of labour laws and regulations, political advocacy on behalf of their members and the people, if they are not guided by a number of policies.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress as an organization that works with set rules and guidelines, had developed its policy documents on issues like collective bargaining, socio-economic transformation, gender equity, internal democracy, national and international solidarity, NLC and unionism, labour and politics and workers education.
“The NLC Policy Document serves as a guideline to set rules, principles and goals to control the decisions and actions of the Congress. It also sets the framework for Congress’ engagement with the employers and government. It is in light of the foregoing that workers’ education which is interactive and participatory is focused on building workers knowledge on issues that are very fundamental to the struggle for the defence of the rights and interest of the workers in the workplace and in the society.
“It is with this in mind that the modules of the 2023 Harmattan School are reviewed to take into consideration the need to inculcate for interaction on the elemental framework for policy designing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and the need for feedback mechanism.”
He thanked the representative of the Minister of Labour and Employment, the Country Director of the ILO for the English Speaking, West African Countries, the Director General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), the Resident Representative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the Country Director of the Solidarity Centre, the members of the NAC, CWC and NEC of the NLC for finding time to attend the Opening Session of the 2023 School.
“My appreciation also goes to the members of the fourth realm of estate for their presence to cover the Opening Session of the 2023 Harmattan School. To the ILO and the FES, I would like to say thank you for your support for our programmes,” he said.
In her goodwill message, Vanessa Phala, Director, ILO Country Office for
Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, said that the world of work is undergoing rapid changes, driven by technological advances, climate change, globalization, and shifting social and economic trends.
She said the changes are affecting workers and trade unions, posing new challenges and opportunities for collective action and advocacy.
She said that trade unions remain critical stakeholders in promoting workers’ rights, improving working conditions, and advancing social and economic justice.
She said, “Against this context, there is no better time than now for a serious and strategic reflection on the role that organized labour execute in policy engagement and dialogue.
“I am delighted that the19th edition of the NLC Harmattan School is dedicated to reflecting on the pertinent question ‘’how can trade unions build power and transform their organizations in the context of rapidly changing economic and labour market policies’.
“The need for strong, democratic, independent, and representative workers’ organizations, effective and adequately resourced labour administrations, and robust and inclusive social dialogue institutions and processes remains fundamental, especially in times of crisis and recovery.
“These institutions are the bedrock of labour market governance, a prerequisite for social justice and the building blocks for the delivery of policy engagement driven decent work solutions to some of the development challenges facing the country.
“Policy engagement is a facet of social dialogue. For the ILO, social dialogue in all its forms is crucial for policy coherence and effective crisis and resilience management. It is also a key governance instrument in managing and responding to transformations in the world of work.
“In this context, the ILO will continue to place particular emphasis on strengthening the institutional capacity of employers’ and workers’ organizations to develop forward-looking solutions to sustain and improve operations to reinforce their representative, leadership, and advocacy roles, while renewing membership strategies, service provision and delivery mechanisms, and enhancing policy advocacy and influence.
“Policy engagement has further been loosely described as the interface between researchers and other stakeholders across policymaking processes, including through generating evidence, advocacy, and capacity development for same purposes. In this regard, the exigency of the theme of the 19th Harmattan School becomes even more pertinent, especially in elaborating the role of trade unions play in policy engagement, particularly as it relates to advancing policy options for improved governance and conditions of the working people in Nigeria.
“As the world of work evolves, key players continue to adduce accompanying strategies and methodologies for ensuring emerging conditions and realities are met with a well-prepared workforce, and articulated policy environment to respond to the impending realities.
“Skills required by trade unions in this regard are not limited to a diagonal or linear trajectory, but rather a multi-layered and cross-functional pool of resourcefulness for targeted research, change driven advocacy, and positive behavioural shifts.”
She said that the set of complementary skills would be derived through a variety of methodologies that would include capacity development through the entire career cycle, including through knowledge garnered through servicing members and affiliates alike, reliable evidence generated credible institutions and sources,
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More importantly, understanding the policy landscape, governance dynamics, as well as ensuring the required capacities trade unions would need for engagement in this space must be a priority action area for trade unions intervention,” she said.
She further promised that the ILO will continue to support the engagement and advocacy role of its constituents in national, regional, and international fora and the wider multilateral system to show the value of tripartism and social dialogue to institution building, policymaking and improved workplace relations.
She said there is a growing need to equip trade unions with research and data analysis skills to support evidence-based labour market policy advocacy, as well as making policy spaces more accessible for workers representatives.
“Trade unions have spaces to make policy inputs to the next VNR and provide a research-based position on Nigeria’s performance on SDGs implementation status. Beyond goal #8 which is usually referred to as the ‘’ILO Goal” what will be the position on the NLC on the implementation status of the other goals,” she said.
On his part, the General Secretary of NLC, Comrade Emma Ugbaja said that the situation is becoming highly unbearable for the workers and indeed most Nigerians.
Ugboaja said: ” Up till now the federal workers are yet to receive their November salaries and that means December salary might be paid in January. This is not what it used be and if we don’t combat this now, then it becomes absolutely difficult for the average worker to appreciate what is called policy engagement.”
He said that payment of salary which is a primary function of government is now becoming difficult to fulfill.
” It is unimaginable that payment of salaries will now become collective bargaining issues,” he said.
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Techrectory with Agency Report.
