Labour protests mass sack, unfair anti- labour practices by chemical firm
National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and NonMetallic Products Employees ( NUCFRLANMPE), has kicked against the planned mass sack and unfair anti- labour practices by the management of Nycil Chemical Company, located in Sango Ota, Ogun State.
The chemical workers said the company’s decision to sack workers at this critical time of COVID- 19 when governments are putting measures to contain the dreaded disease, is against the Constitution of Nigeria, and an unfair labour practice on the employees.
The management in an attempt to carry out its mass retrenchment, which it said was due to the effects of COVID- 19, locked all its gates against the workers, who had arrived for the day’s activities.
The workers, who were taken aback by the management’s decision commenced a peaceful protest and vowed to continue to resist the action until the management opened the gate for discussion.
President of NUCFRLANMPE, Goke Olatunji, and the Chemical and Non Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ( CANMPSSAN), who intervened at the entrance of the firm where the workers were locked out, said they are teeming up to ensure that other subsidiaries of the company across Nigeria are shut down in solidarity with the workers’ action.
Olatunji decried that the company’s action was in violation of the recent agreement signed between the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association ( NECA), and the Organised Labour represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC), and the Trade Union Congress ( TUC), with the support of the Federal Government and the International Labour Organisation ( ILO).
He said: “There is an understanding that no employers must embark on retrenchment due to COVID- 19, as it is a global phenomenon, and no worker should be made a sacrificial lamb, but rather, the unions and the management must find a way out through dialogue and negotiation.”
He insisted that the union would not hold any clandestine meeting with the management, and will continue the protests until the gate of the company is opened for dialogue with the representatives of the workers.
In his reaction, the Managing Director of Nycil, Badmus Abudu, said the management decided to lock out the workers to forestall violence.
He said the management was open to peaceful resolution of the crisis, and as such, would be meeting with the top board members to decide on the way forward.