NLC plans to initiate new law to criminalise casualisation

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Friday that it was planning to initiate a law that would protect Nigeria workers from casualisation.

According to the NLC president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the proposed legislation would ensure that workers rights were not abused and that they enjoyed good welfare packages at work.

Our correspondent reports that some affiliate unions of the congress had decried the rate of casualisation and contract employment in the labour movement and urged the NLC to take urgent action to stem the tide.

Wabba, who was on a tour of some NLC-affiliated unions in Lagos, compared casual employment to modern-day slavery.

“Most employers are encouraging and advancing casualisation because they do not want to pay workers their terminal benefits.

“The employers do not want to pay gratuity and are against decent jobs. They want to make more profit and to reduce their commitments to their workers,’’ Wabba said.

The NLC president also noted that casualisation was against the Nigeria labour laws, the ILO convention and human dignity, and that Organised labour would use its national appeal to ensure that a laws to protect workers were appropriately enacted.

“The congress has directed unions to send the names of companies involved in casual employment, so that we can unite to criminalise casualisation,’’ the labour leader said.

On the maritime sector, Wabba called on the Federal Government to look into the Ports and Harbour Bill, to stem the increasing insecurity at the ports.

“Now that we have seen an influx of arms and ammunition coming into the country, we are putting the lives of many Nigerians on the line.

He called on government to fix port access roads, because the ports had become the economic nerve-centres of the economy.

Earler, Mr Goke Olatunji, president, National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Leather and Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), said that contract jobs had reduced union memberships nationwide.

Olatunji said that casualisation had also negatively affected the labour movement across the country and urged the NLC to sensitise the National Assembly on the issue.