LABOUR Union calls for caution over verdict on NBC ASSBI seeks repeal of old labour laws

The National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) has cautioned Nigerians over subjecting the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) to harsh criticism due to recent verdict of a Lagos High Court on two of the company’s products.

An Igbosere High Court had recently ordered the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to compel the Nigerian Bottling Company, NBC, Plc, to carry a mandatory warning on its Fanta and Sprite products, stating that the contents should not be taken with Vitamin C in order to avoid poisoning.

But the national president of the union, Lateef Oyelekan, told newsmen in Lagos that NBC, as a major investor in the country, should not be subjected to negative publicity without proper facts as it would endanger the company`s corporate profile and affect the nation’s economy.

“If this happens and it affects the bottom line of the company, the workers’ job would be threatened and this is not what we want at this period of economic recession,” he said.

Oyelekan said more Nigerians were already out of job due to the present economic challenges, adding that the investors who were still operating despite the challenges in the country should be commended.

The NBC, in reaction to the judgment, had said it was inaccurate and that its products were safe. The Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) says it is sponsoring bills before the National Assembly that will change labour laws in the nation’s banks and other institutions in the financial sector.

The president of the union, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye, disclosed this to our correspondent on the sideline of ASSBIFI’s national executive council meeting in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State at the weekend.

She said most of the laws regulating to the nation’s financial sector were old and needed repeal.

Comrade Olasanoye added: “Most of the labour laws we are using are those ones put in place prior to independence. There are modern ways of doing things now under the current age of globalization’’.

She also said that the association is planning to inaugurate job loss insurance scheme in view of the mass sack in the nation’s financial sector.

She said the scheme was an avenue to compensate members in case of job losses.