Plot deregulation of labour matters through backdoor

As NLC warns of serious consequences

DESPITE overwhelming rejection by workers and most Nigerians of the bill sponsored by Garba Datti Muhammed, (All Progressives Congress, APC, Kano), to alter the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to remove the National Minimum Wage, NMW, from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, feelers from the National Assembly indicate that those who want to deregulate NMW are unrelenting and are  clandestinely plotting to achieve their sefish desire.

Recall that the bill had  last year passed through the second reading in the House of Representatives before Organised Labour and other concerned Nigerians got wind of it. The sponsor among others, had claimed it was to allow both the federal and state governments to freely negotiate minimum wage “with their workers in line with our federalism.”

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Muhammed in his lead debate said the bill was necessary due to the controversy that usually trailed the NMW, contending that the proposed legislation was in line with the growing demand for the devolution of power in the country.

He added that it would afford states the opportunity to negotiate directly with labour unions on what they could afford to pay as minimum wage to workers.

Once the move became public early last year, organgised labour rallied workers, its civil society organisations, CSOs allies and other concerned Nigerians against the bill.

In fact, on March 10, 2021, leaders of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and their Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterparts, stormed the National Assembly alongside thousands of workers, to seek end to what they considered as very obnoxious and an anti-workers’ bill.

The heat became too much for the legislators that they were forced to stay action on the bill.

Renew plot

However, investigation revealed that those behind the bill especially state governors, have remained undaunted and have been secretly mobilising support to resurrect the bill and pass it through the backdoor.  

An insider who confided in Vanguard, said the “governors and those behind the bill have not jettisoned the bill. They have been working and mobilising for support undergropund to ensure passage of the bill. Remember that the bill had passed the second reading last year before organised labour and others rose against it.  Recall that on March 16, 2021 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at a meeting with NLC and TUC leaders, asked them to take advantage of the public hearing to register their displeasure over the bill seeking to decentralise minimum wage.”

NLC warns

Speaking, President of NLC, said: “Labour issues are presently domiciled in the second Schedule, Legislative Powers, part 1, Exclusive list, Item 34 thus: Labour, including trade unions, industrial relations; conditions, safety and welfare of labour; industrial disputes; prescribing a national minimum wage for the federation or any part thereof; and industrial arbitration.

“For the sake of our national interest, security and industrial harmony, labour should not be one of the items that should be devolved to the states. Perhaps, a brief history of Labour and how it came to be on the Exclusive list may suffice. Nation-states’ legislations on Labour drive substantially from the International Labour Organisation, ILO, conventions, protocols and recommendations and other instruments domesticated through the Acts of parliament. 

“This explains the near uniformity of labour laws across the nations of the world and relative global industrial order, harmony and an attraction for foreign investment. It was in realisation of this that 17 days after independence in 1960 under a democratic government, Nigeria fell in line by rectifying and domesticating ILO Conventions 87 and 98  guaranteeing the right to organise and collectively bargain.

“Nigeria has since adopted all the core conventions in its capacity as a sovereign nation and regularly attends ILO organ meetings as a sovereign in line with international best practices.

Reasons for Nigeria’s relative industrial growth and development and evolution into an investor’s haven are partly attributed to its willingness to subject itself to this global order and corpus of international labour standards.

“The ILO was created in 1919 by the Versailles Peace Treaty ending World War I along with the League of Nations to address widespread demands for social justice and improved living standards for the world‘s working people. It survived World War II and today serves as a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to promoting labour standards globally.

In the light of this, deregulating labour to the states will inevitably create intractable problems. “At membership level, the 36 states of the federation and FCT are no sovereign which is a basis for ILO membership of Nigeria. Secondly, a corpus of labour legislation across the 36 states and FCT will almost certainly create a judicial nightmare. Thirdly, investors will be scared away as they will consider this as unnecessary addition to the already hostile operating environment. 

“At the level of workers who often act in the national interest, this will whittle down patriotic influence. In the light of this, we would strongly advocate against removing labour from the Exclusive Legislative List. Not even during the military era was this contemplated.”