By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, ABUJA
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Pure Fuel Employees, NUPENG, has described Senator Adams Oshiomhole because the Judas Iscariot of commerce unionism over his feedback on the resolved face-off between Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Pure Fuel Senior Employees Affiliation of Nigeria, PENGASSAN.
Learn Additionally: Oshiomhole faults PENGASSAN for shutting oil sector over dispute with Dangote Refinery
NUPENG, in an announcement by Comrades Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, Nationwide President and Basic Secretary respectively, stated: “These remarks characterize a reprehensible assault on the elemental rights of Nigerian employees and a blatant distortion of established labour legal guidelines.”
It additional said: “We view with deep disappointment a former labour chief who has morphed right into a staunch defender of company oppression, undermining the very rights he as soon as fought to guard.
“His efforts to justify the victimization of employees for exercising their rights to affiliation and peaceable motion will not be solely repugnant, but in addition a flagrant misrepresentation of Nigerian labour regulation and Worldwide Labour Organisation, ILO, conventions.”
NUPENG stated it’s the top of irony that “we should query whether or not former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s description of Senator Oshiomhole – at a Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, delegates’ convention dinner – as ‘a comrade within the morning and a politician by evening’ holds true.
“In that case, does such a determine possess the authority to lecture others on technique or morality? How can somebody who as soon as suggested allegedly corrupt politicians to affix the APC for absolution now presume to evangelise ethics?
“This additionally raises questions on his declare of relinquishing the Basic Secretary place on the Nationwide Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Employees of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, upon changing into NLC President.
“The info are indeniable: Adams Oshiomhole held each the NLC Presidency and NUTGTWN Basic Secretary roles from 1999 to 2007, solely stepping down from the latter in 2008 – one 12 months after leaving the NLC.
“Does this replicate an unyielding pursuit of energy, affect, and private achieve?”
Rewriting historical past
It stated there seems to be a persistent sample within the Senator’s behaviour: rewriting historical past to align together with his present reactionary stance in favour of capitalists, who reject commerce unions in pursuit of exploitative labour practices.
“We should additionally query whether or not Senator Oshiomhole really deserves the self-conferred title of “Distinguished,” by which senators deal with each other – a title earned by means of undemocratic privilege moderately than advantage.
“His present place will not be that of a realistic reformer however the rantings of an apostate, seduced by energy and compromised by vested pursuits, betraying the reason for Nigeria’s downtrodden employees.
“Oshiomhole started his interview by admitting restricted information of the difficulty, but at 73 years outdated, he recklessly proceeded to denounce the PENGASSAN strike on freedom of affiliation – apparently on the behest of highly effective forces.
“This stance, based mostly on unverified claims, is each irresponsible and deplorable.
“For readability, we reiterate the related authorized provisions:
“Part 40 of the 1999 Structure (as amended) ensures each individual in Nigeri – residents and non-citizens alike – the proper to freedom of affiliation and meeting.
“Part 9(6) of the Labour Act (Cap L1, LFN 2004) prohibits any contract that excludes a employee from commerce union membership.
“ILO Conventions 87 (Freedom of Affiliation) and 98 (Proper to Collective Bargaining), ratified by Nigeria, shield employees’ rights to kind and be a part of unions of their selection with out interference.”
NUPENG contended that mass dismissals for unionizing “violate these requirements, that are enshrined within the Structure through Sections 254C(1) and (2).
“Opposite to the Senator’s assertions, employers don’t have any authority to intervene in an worker’s freedom of affiliation – this proper belongs completely to the employee,” the union famous.
It stated Nigerian legal guidelines additionally safeguard the proper to not be a part of a union, requiring solely formal written discover of withdrawal, including, “neither employers nor their defenders have any position on this course of. The Senator’s proposal for a “moratorium on unionization” is an absurd, regressive concept with no foundation in fashionable democracy.
“We problem him to quote any part of the Labour Act, Commerce Unions Act, or different laws supporting such a provision — or is that this drawn from an unpublished manifesto by “daytime comrades and nighttime opportunists”?”
Persevering with, it stated: “Oshiomhole’s critique of the PENGASSAN strike exemplifies historic revisionism and selective amnesia:
“Part 31 of the Commerce Unions Act (Cap T14, LFN 2004) acknowledges commerce disputes, together with sympathetic industrial actions. PENGASSAN’s solidarity with dismissed Dangote Refinery members is thus a protected authorized exercise.
“The commerce union precept that “an harm to 1 is an harm to all” underpins world labour actions.
“For a former NLC chief to decry this now exposes a shift from class solidarity to alignment with oppressors. His warnings of financial hurt echo the anti-labour arguments he as soon as battled as NLC President throughout numerous strikes—a tactic that continues to be legitimate as we speak.
“It’s stunning {that a} man who served a number of phrases on the ILO Governing Council and its Committee on Software of Requirements —reviewing world employees’ rights violations —now shows such profound ignorance of unionism.
“The unity of PENGASSAN members and the solidarity from nationwide and worldwide unions kind the bedrock of the labour motion.
“As Reuben Abbati aptly queried through the interview, the place are Oshiomhole’s once-iconic “aluta” apparel? Have they been discarded within the offers of a “morning comrade and nighttime politician,” as Obasanjo allegedly described?
“We urge readers to seek the advice of the 1998 e-book Nigerian Textile Trade: Labour-Regime and Adjustment by Andrae and Beckman (obtainable on-line at labour-regime-and-adjustment-andrae-and-beckman-1998/), notably web page 247, for perception into Oshiomhole’s management of the textile employees’ union.”
Particular person non grata
Concluding, NUPENG stated it “hereby declares Senator Adams Oshiomhole persona non grata amongst Nigerian oil and fuel employees for his denunciation of the PENGASSAN strike and the unjust sacking of over 800 engineers as retaliation for unionizing.
“This declaration means we’ll not take part in or legitimize any occasions that includes him. The NLC, TUC, and principled civil society organizations are urged to take notice.
“Oshiomhole’s insensitivity to those employees’ plight and his opposition to unionism within the petroleum sector poison the working-class resolve whereas bolstering exploiters. NUPENG stands resolutely with PENGASSAN and the dismissed engineers. We’ll deploy all authorized and industrial instruments — absolutely compliant with Nigerian regulation and world requirements — to attain justice.
“The Senator’s stance marks him because the Judas Iscariot of Nigerian commerce unionism — a profound betrayal of the working class. We advise him to withdraw from labour commentary, as he has forfeited all ethical authority, particularly amongst oil and fuel employees.”
The submit Dangote/ PENGASSAN: Oshiomhole is Judas Iscariot of working class – NUPENG appeared first on Vanguard Information.
