Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) enjoined the country’s workforce to be prepared to confront challenges posed by economic crisis as well as difficulties in the workplace that might arise as a result of unfriendly policies.
While addressing participants at this year’s Harmattan School, organised by NLC, in Abuja on Monday, NLC president, Joe Ajaero, said workers’ right had continually come under assault by what he described as a capitalist system seeking to maximise profit at the expense of the workforce.
Ajaero said, “We are here again for the Harmattan School which should not be seen a mere academic exercise. Rather see it as a conclave of conscious vanguard of the Nigerian working people.
“In a world shrouded by the fog of a deepening global economic crisis accelerated by the relentless engine of technological change, we gather here to sharpen our tools of analysis and our weapons of struggle.”
Speaking on the theme of this year’s Harmattan School event, “Workers’ Rights in the Context of Global Economic Crisis and Technological Advancement,” Ajaero said the focus was timely, adding that it is a strategic imperative for survival as a people and as workers.
He said Nigerian workers were currently “confronted by a dual assault of intensification of exploitation in the workplace and alienation of our rights in the political sphere”.
He added, “The onslaught against workers and masses is continuing at all fronts by remorseless agents of capital in all guises.”
Ajaero told the workers that such capitalist onslaught recently came in the form of brazen and unprecedented violations of workers’ rights by a conglomerate monopoly in the country.
He accused the big entities of seeking to operate as a state within a state, disregarding labour laws and treating workers as disposable inputs.
Ajaero also condemned moves by government to create what he called, “Special Economic Zones,” or “Industrial Enclaves” that will allow big entities to operate outside existing labour laws and regulations.
He stated, “Also, the ongoing attempts to usurp the democratic structures of the NSITF and PENCOM through various guises are nothing short of plot to liquidate the collective savings and insurance into a slush fund for the ruling class, to be plundered at will. This agenda is afoot, and our resistance must be equally vigorous and unyielding.”
In her goodwill message, Country Director of International Labour Organisation (ILO), Ms. Venessa Phala, said the organization remained steadfast in its mission to promote decent work and social justice.
Phala stated, “We believe that technological progress must go hand in hand with fairness, inclusivity, and protection for all workers. Together, through collaboration and solidarity, we can ensure that innovation and economic recovery create opportunities rather than deepen inequalities.”
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
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