The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday shut down business activities Trustfund Pensions Limited offices across the nation.
The industrial action, according to the union, was necessitated by the recent layoff of 45 staff and casualisation of many others, in addition to unfair labour practices being meted out to workers by the organisation.
The protest began at 7 am, with NLC members blocking access to the Trustfund Pensions office located at the Labour House in Abuja, preventing staff from entering the premises.
The protesters carried placards bearing messages like #Stop casual and contract employment, pay fair wages; #union membership is a fundamental right (we have to join the union and #respect workers right to freedom of association and collective bargaining (RECOGNIZE THE UNION), among others.
Addressing journalists at the venue, Deputy General Secretary of NLC, Comrade Ismail Bello, said that the Congress could no longer ignore the extent of labour standard violations being committed by the Trustfund.
Bello said the demonstration was necessary because the organisation’s management had failed to be cooperative in the area of dialogue.
According to him, “Trust Fund is a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) that takes care of pension investment of workers and it is also a PFA in which the NLC has a stake and so we believe that we can deal with all issues through a process of dialogue, but, unfortunately, the management of Trust Fund has not shown good faith when it comes to discussing labour issues.
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“The immediate issue relates to the sack of 45 workers which we consider to be a redundant exercise, but the management considers it to be a routine management discretion.
“The other issues relate to casual and contract employment and unfair treatment of this category of workers both in terms of wages and their condition of employment. We have tried to go through a process of dialogue but the management of Trust Fund has not shown sufficient good faith and we think that for a business in which we have a stake, we expect the utmost level of labour standards and the least that Trust Fund can do is to ensure that the right of workers to belong to the union is respected because when you have a union in the workplace you have a social partner to dialogue with, you have a social partner to do collective bargaining with.
“A situation where management takes unilateral decisions on all issues, the tendency is to see the kind of things that we are seeing which is not too good for working people.
“So, as NLC, we can not close our eyes to this level of a labour standard violation being perpetrated under our noses. First, there must be respect for union rights, two those casual and contract workers must enjoy the best standard of employment whatever name they are called and also for the workers that have been made redundant, to ensure that if they are not recalled the best disengagement entitlements are paid to them.”
Reacting in a statement by its Head, Corporate Communications, Chinalulum Uzomah, Trustfund said; “This unprovoked act is regrettable and contrary to all known procedures for declaration of labour dispute.
“The NLC is a shareholder in Trustfund and also sits on its Board. The issues being raised by NLC concerning workers are false because no employee of Trustfund is on contract. On the issue of wages, we make bold to say that Trustfund pays industry-competitive wages that has just further been enhanced.
“As a regulated business, we go the extra mile to ensure that all our actions are within the law and regulations guiding labour relations. We apologize to our numerous customers nationwide for the current disruptions in our services and the inconveniences it must have caused them even as we intensify engagement with the NLC to terminate this unwarranted enforcement action.
“Make no mistake, Trustfund Pensions Limited is committed to providing the best services to all its customers and will always conform to the world’s best practices.”
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
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