Labour, employers on collision course over no-work, no-pay threat

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

ORGANISED labour is on a collision with employers of labour over threat to dismiss or cut the pay of worker for failing to report to work as a result of the nationwide strike and mass protest called by labour and its civil society allies last week.
The strike and mass protest was called to protest hike in the pump price of petrol from N65 per litre to N141.

Vanguard gathered that some private and public sector employers are already threatening to carry out disciplinary action against employees that did come work while others are set to implement the “No work, no pay” rule.

Speaking on the issue, Director General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, Dr. Segun Oshinowo, welcomed the decision of employers to implement the “No work, no pay” rule saying it was in line with the law of the land.

According to him, the strike and mass protest called by labour and the civil society group  disrupted economic activities in the country with the economy losing a staggering N794.5 billion in the last five working days on account of the strike.

Reporting for work

He said private sector employers were losing revenue daily and may not be able pay workers for the period that they did not report to work.

According to him, “The law of the land stipulates that any worker that fails to report to work should not be paid. Employers are losing sales revenue so where will they get the money to pay their workers? In other parts of the world, it is the unions that pay workers salaries when they call workers out for strike.

The unions use the accumulated check off dues to pay workers’ salary during the period of strike so why should Nigeria be different? It is not the responsibility of employers to sustain workers financially during strike because the employers themselves are losing money.”

As expected, labour leaders are not taking this threat likely and vowed to shut down the premises of any employer that victimizes employees on account of their participation in the national strike.

Chairman, Rivers State Council of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Comrade Chika Unuegbu, who spoke to Vanguard, said the Congress had received reports that some banks were threatening their workers with dismissal for not reporting to work last week.

Unuegbu, who condemned in strong terms the action of management of the affected banks, said the national secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and TUC would engage the management of the banks to ensure that no worker was victimized for participating in the strike.

According to him, “Labour has received a report that some banks are threatening their workers with dismissal if they don’t report to work. We condemn the action of these banks as anti-labour. These workers are Nigerians and not slaves and the management of these banks cannot treat them as slaves in their fatherland.

“The national secretariat of the NLC and TUC will immediately reach the management of these banks as well as the leadership of ASSBIFI to ensure that no worker is threatened or penalized on account of his participation in the strike.”

Also National President of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Comrade Sunday Salako dismissed the threat as of no effect.

He insisted that no employer had the right to victimize any employer for participating in the nationwide strike called by labour, warning that labour would paralyse the operation of any financial institution that does so.

According to him, “No bank will want to victimize any worker on account of participating in the strike. Any bank or financial institution that does that will be shut down. Any bank that wants to take advantage of the strike to cut the salaries of staff will be severely dealt with. This is because it is against the standard of the International Labour Organisation, ILO.”