The occasion was the 57th annual general meeting of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), held at NECA House, Ikeja Business District in Lagos. 

President Goodluck Jonathan (2nd right), with Labour leaders and Labour minister, Emeka Wogu (left)

Captains of industries or their representatives were present. Other social partners — the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress were also represented at the highest level— by NLC president, Abdulwaheed Omar and Boboi Kaigama respectively. Government was represented by the Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

Expectedly, issues related to the business , industrial relations and the economy at large were discussed. This edition of Labour Vanguard shares the views expressed with readers.

NECA’s outgoing president, Chief Richard Uche spoke of socio-economic issues of concern to all citizens. In particular, he told the audience why jobs may continue to remain scarce.

He said: “The twin evils of high youth unemployment and expanding frontiers of insecurity have continued to shrink the social and economic space of our country. If the truth must  be told, the environment for business has become increasingly hostile and dis-enabling. This development has not only led to higher incidence of our mortality among small and medium scale enterprises, SMEs, but has also constituted encumbrance for the entrance of our youths into entrepreneurship.”

Chief Uche explained that with the current situation, the private sector may be unable to create the jobs that Nigerians, especially youths desire so much.

What is to be done?  He sent a message to the government. “Our clear message to government is that the way forward to our myriads of social problems is through creation of an enabling environment that is supportive of sustainable enterprise. It is enterprises that provide jobs. A well-engaged and fulfilled youth will see the reason for living and will shun any allure of mischief and evil.”

He however acknowledged that Government has not been indifferent but that more needs to be done. Chief Uche said, “While noting the strident efforts of Government to promote meaningful socio-economic development and the moderate progress that has been made, the fact still remains that we are far away from Eldorado.”

Industrial relations: Expectedly, NECA is concerned about the spate of industrial unrests and what it identified as the failure of unions to adhere to grievance-settling procedures. For the umbrella body of organized private employers, the out-going president spoke of the  “imperative to maintain ndustrial harmony”.

Uche  recalled that “in the past two years, we have almost shouted ourselves hoarse on the decadent state of industrial relations in Nigeria. All we can see in our industrial relations milieu is the festering of impunity; illegal strikes, property vandalism in the course of strikes, rising indiscipline by trade union officials, disdain for Labour Ministry intervention and indifference by security outfits. This certainly cannot be the right context for Nigeria to maximize productivity.”

NECA therefore suggested: “First, we want to appeal to our trade union brothers and sisters to respect the rules and laws in Nigeria on dispute settlement. We also want to appeal to the law  enforcement agencies to protect the rights of employers anytime the unions deem it necessary to exercise their right to picket or strike. Perhaps, in the light of the events that have transpired in the last three years which have pointed to the capability of the union to mobilize and manage its members, we believe the time is right for the government to amend the Trade Union Act in order to allow trade unions to directly collect check-off dues from their members. We want to assure the unions that we will create a conducive atmosphere for them to discharge these responsibilities as had been then case in the pre-1978 industrial relations dispensation in Nigeria.”

NECA’s position, to enlightened minds, may be seen as a subtle  “strategy to weaken the unions”  though it would put an end to “armchair unionism.”

NECA prefers that trade unions earn their dues

NLC reaction: Expectedly, this drew a  reaction from the NLC president, Comrade Abudulwaheed Omar who opposed this saying that “ this would not stem the tide of industrial crises”. In his opinion, NECA’s suggestion will only create more tension in the workplace.

Trampling on workers’rights

Rather , Omar suggested that  employers should learn to take workers into confidence, especially  on decisions that would impact directly on the employees. He said many employers would rather trample on workers’ rights by making employees have an agreement that “they would not be members of trade unions.”

Minister of Labour:  The Minister of labour, Chief Emeka Wogu  who was represented by Mrs Amahian J, Deputy Director, Trade Unions and Industrial Relations Services, also  expressed concern about conflicts in the workplace.

Wogu said: “Grievances and conflicts in the workplace always have potential  multiplier effects on almost all the sectors of the economy.  There is the need for effective management strategies to confront the peculiar concerns in the workplace, as most of these challenges have no simple solutions. “

His suggestion: “I propose no singular panacea either but a general perspective that would principally encourage a paradigm shift from the narrow entrenched  views to a broader inclusive analysis.”

The  minister also said “one major cause of these conflicts and grievances in the workplace is the issue of  non-procedural declaration of redundancy by the employers/management without wider consultation with workers’ representatives.”

He also called on employers to protect workers by desisting from giving jobs meant for Nigerians to expartiates.

In Wogu’s words, “ the right of workers to rise to any position in the workplace should be guaranteed and encouraged by all and sundry. This should minimize or alleviate  the incessant grievances and conflicts in the workplace and should therefore curb the issue of impunity and abuse of rights by the expatriates.”

Collective Agreement: Labour Minister Wogu spoke of the need “ for respect of the sanctity of duly signed collective agreement which is expected to come into being by dialogue between the employers and workers. It should be sacrosanct until it expires. Expired agreements should be renegotiated as at when due to avoid unnecessarily over-heating the workplace. Grievances arising from expired collective agreements are legitimate and should be promptly attended to.”

Speaking, President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, said only industrial justice where employees get fair share of the organisation’s growth can guarantee industrial peace.

He advocated for good governance at work place, calling on NECA to ensure that members imbibe the culture of good governance, decrying employers growing anti-union posture, warning that such behavior would definitely not guarantee industrial peace.