Face-off with Dangote: NLC mobilizes, threatens solidarity action, as NUPENG sets for nationwide strike

…Directs workers to prepare for a general strike

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has thrown its full weight behind the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, in its face-off with the Dangote Group, directing workers across the country prepare for a solidarity action

The move comes as NUPENG announced the commencement of a nationwide strike beginning tomorrow, over what it described as among others, Dangote’s “anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, and indecent industrial relations strategies.”

NLC in a statement by its President, Joe Ajaero, called on the Federal Government to immediately call Aliko Dangote Alhaji Sayyu Dantata to order and impress on them to respect the nation and in international law.

The statement noted that  NLC, in full solidarity with NUPENG, “declares that we will not stand by while one conglomerate seeks to enslave the Nigerian working class and trample on the hard-won rights of unions.”

According to NLC “We stand in solidarity with NUPENG against Dangote Group’s anti-union, anti-worker agenda and monopolistic capitalist strategy.”

The statement reads in part; “We have received and carefully studied the petition and alarm raised by our affiliate union, the NUPENG, on the  anti-union practices, monopolistic agenda, and indecent industrial relations strategies being pursued by Aliko Dangote and his associates.

“It must be realized that this is not the first complaint we are receiving against Dangote group. We have received several from other Unions with jurisdictions over the companies owned by the group. All of them verges on the same acts of impunity and unfair labour practices.

“We state without equivocation that the revelations contained in NUPENG’s statement represent not just an attack on petroleum workers, but a full-blown declaration of war against the Nigerian working class, trade unionism, and the principle of Decent Work.

“It exposes what has long been the questionable hallmark of the Dangote Group; a consistent record of union-busting, exploitative labour practices, and monopolistic capture of markets to the detriment of both workers and the Nigerian people. We have it on good authority that Dangote Refinery pays one of the lowest wages in the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria today and treats its staff members beneath acceptable standards.

“Dangote group’s business model clearly enslaves and is not in any way developmental. The Nigerian people were promised that the Dangote Refinery and associated operations would create jobs, deepen industrialization, and promote national self-sufficiency.

“Instead, what we are witnessing is the classic playbook of primitive capitalism as the group resorts to monopolistic Capture. It is using State backing to eliminate competition and dominate entire sectors (cement, sugar, flour, and now petroleum products). It is boasting already of its rooting in the power structure and preparedness to continue using it against the Unions.“Dangote group continues in its Union busting strategy has systematically denied workers their constitutional right to freedom of association by preventing them from joining trade unions of their choice, forcing them into ‘company unions’ designed to weaken collective power. “We have had cause in African trade union circles to defend Dangote from complaints by workers of other African nations out of patriotic fervour but we have reached the point where remedial actions have become necessary.

“The group revels in precarious work. Dangote companies thrive on casualization, poor wages, and unsafe working conditions; all in direct violation of the ILO’s Decent Work agenda to which Nigeria is a signatory and in contradiction to the promise which Dangote holds on Paper. The group believes that Nigerian workers are helpless because there is nothing the government can do against his various violations.

“Dangote believes in employing foreign nationals to the detriment of Nigerian workers. We remember the case of the Asian Welders and Fitters that were recruited from India and others while capable Nigerian welders and Fitters languished in the unemployment queue. Unfortunately, these thousands of workers were not treated fairly and some of them came to us for remediation. This is definitely not how to be patriotic by a Group that received all manners of waivers and concessions from the nation’s coffers.

“Instead of lowering costs for Nigerians, the Dangote monopoly exploits scarcity and control of distribution to raise prices, thereby deepening poverty and hardship. This is not industrialization; it is economic sabotage. It is not nation-building; it is class robbery, where the working masses subsidize the obscene wealth of rich families through exploitation and manipulation in cahoots with cronies in government.

“By seeking to recruit drivers under the condition that they must not belong to NUPENG or any union in the Oil and Gas industry, Dangote and his associates are directly violating Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, the Labour Act, and ILO Conventions 98 and 87 on Freedom of Association and the Right to Organise and Collectively Bargain (ratified by Nigeria in 1960).

“If this is allowed to stand, it will set a dangerous precedent where powerful capital can openly defy the laws of Nigeria, enslave workers, and destroy the very foundation of collective bargaining. This is a dangerous road to fascism in industrial relations, where workers are treated as slaves without voice or dignity.

“The NLC, in full solidarity with NUPENG, declares that we will not stand by while one conglomerate seeks to enslave the Nigerian working class and trample on the hard-won rights of unions. The scale of workers’ rights violations is growing alarmingly and we are poised to ensure that it is contained if nothing is done by the government to sanction the Group and make it act more responsibly.

“We hereby unequivocally condemn the anti-union, anti-worker, and monopolistic practices of the Dangote Group and its affiliates.Call on the Federal Government to immediately call Aliko Dangote and Sayyu Dantata to order. Their operations must comply with all Nigerian labour laws and international conventions.

“We call on Dangote group to cease all anti-union, anti-workers practices. We demand the immediate unionization of not just Dangote Refinery but all the other entities within the group.

“We place entire Nigerian workers, State Councils and industrial unions in Nigeria on red alert and mobilize for a united front of resistance against the Dangote Group’s anti-worker agenda and support the proposed industrial action by NUPENG.

We demand that the Federal Government and its regulatory institutions; especially the Nigerian Midstream & Downstream Petroleum Authority; that history will hold them complicit if they continue to look the other way while few individuals privatize the nation’s energy future and enslave its workforce.

“We call on the Nigerian people to see through the deception: this is not philanthropy, it is plunder; it is not development, it is dispossession and enslavement.

“The attack on NUPENG is an attack on us all. The NLC without equivocation states that Nigerian workers are not slaves and cannot be serially abused without consequences. Our Constitution and international conventions guarantee our right to organize, collectively bargain and defend our dignity at work. The NLC will resist every attempt by the Dangote Group to roll back these rights.

“We warn that if Dangote continues on this reckless anti-union path, the NLC and its affiliates will move beyond words to action. We will confront this tyranny head-on until victory is secured for Nigerian workers and the Nigerian people.

“Let it be clearly understood, if the Dangote Group does not immediately halt its anti-union and anti-people agenda, the we will not hesitate to mobilize all workers across the length and breadth of this country for actions and solidarity necessary to protect our dignity and to defend Nigeria from the clutches of monopoly capital.

“Our solidarity is not negotiable. We will fight because we must. The working class must not be sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed.”

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