2017: Labour in retrospect

Year 2017 was full of labour activities ranging from strike actions, demonstrations, agitations as well as legal actions to seek redress against antilabour practices levelled against some employers of labour.

The year had it highs and lows but one glaring thing was the rampant cases of strike actions embarked upon by different labour unions to compel the federal and state governments as well as private and multinational companies to tow the line of labour demands.

In 2017, different workers under the auspices of different unions declared strike actions, demanding government’s implementation of signed agreements.

The year under review, was indeed, a tough one for the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, as he mediated on behalf of the Federal Government with the leadership of different labour unions to ensure peaceful resolution of their grievances.

Notable among the strike actions that grounded the nation in 2017 was that by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The union declared an indefinite nationwide strike on August 13, 2017. During the strike, there were no academic activities in most of the government-owned universities across the nation.

The union was demanding for the release of N1.3 trillion Public Universities Revitalisation fund, earned academic allowances, non-release of operational license of NUPEMCO; nonimplementation of the provisions of the 2014 Pension Reform Act with respect to retired professors and their salaries and removal of universities staff schools from funding by government.

After one month, ASUU president, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, announced a conditional suspension of its nationwide strike in view of the timeline of October 2017 for the implementation of the signed agreement.

Just as the nation heaved a sigh of relief from the ASUU strike, resident doctors under the auspices of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), on September 4, 2017 declared an indefinite strike action. NARD president, Dr Olusegun Olaopa, said the doctors were demanding for the resolution of persistent shortfalls and unpaid arrears of salaries earned in both federal and state tertiary health institutions among others.

The doctors resolved to suspend the strike, after series of conciliatory meetings with the Federal Government.

Within days of the resident doctor’s strike, ULC on September 18 began a nationwide strike after the expiration of a seven-day notice issued to government.

Parts of their demands as issued by the president of the union, Joe Ajaero, were the immediate review of the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN); immediate payment of all the arrears of salaries owed Nigerian workers at all levels of government without exception amongst others.

In 2017 also, non-teaching staff under the Joint Action Committee made up of the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), on September 12, directed its members to proceed on nationwide strike as a result of unresolved issues with government.

Chairman of JAC of the three unions, Samson Chijioke Ugwoke, gave government’s failure to implement the 2009 agreements as reason for the strike action.

However, on September 22, 2017, the unions suspended their 11-day-old strike for a month to allow government meet its demands. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed with the Federal Government delegation led by the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige.

But on 4th December 2017, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the SeniorStaffAssociationofNigerian Universities (SSANU) operating under the acronym of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), went on strike again to make a fresh case in respect of its reservation on the implementation of the point one of the agreement concerning the disbursement of the N23 billion earned allowances released by the Federal Government for tertiary institutions.

No doubt 2017 will be long remembered as a year of harvest of strikes.

On the other side, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) got the National Assembly’s approval for its long-agitated local government autonomy and transmitted same to the states house of assembly for approval. NULGE, an association of 774 local government areas across the country, has vowed to do all within its power to make the state legislatures approve it.

At the states` level, the year under review also witnessed labour confrontations with some state governments, notably Kaduna, Imo, Kogi, Osun, Benue, Ekiti, Bayelsa among others.

Most of the labour confrontations with the state governments were centred on nonpayment and irregular salaries, anti–labour policies, mass sack, mismanagement of Paris Club refunds and non-review of `due` national minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

On the high side, 2017 was characterized by laudable government initiatives, one of which is the appointment of a 30-member new national minimum wage committee.

Organised labour had for long been demanding for the setting up of the committee meant to review and conclude on a new minimum wage for workers.

PresidentMuhammaduBuhari approved the appointment of a 30-member tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee for the negotiation of a new national minimum wage for the country.

The committee is made up of persons from the public sector, (federal and state governments) and the private sector made up of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME)

The committee is chaired by Ama Pepple, while Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment serves as the deputy chairman. It was inaugurated on November 27, 2017.

In the area of job creation, which is one of the core demands of labour, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced different vocational skills acquisition programmes across the states to engage the youths. But whether its impacts were being felt by the deserving youth or not remains a poser for many.