The Nigeria Labour Congress has vowed to picket Union Bank branches over a dispute involving the recognition of the labour organization. The NLC represents large numbers of workers across Africa's most populous state.
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By Oluwaseyi Bangudu
February 11, 2011 03:59AM
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it will picket Union Bank branches nationwide on Monday, February 14, if the bank’s management refused to recognise its Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) affiliate.
Abdulwahed Omar, the NLC president, said this in a statement titled, ‘Funke Osibodu’s Declaration of War: NLC is Equal to the Task’.
The statement alleged that Mrs. Funke Osibodu, Union Bank chief executive, “boasted and vowed that she will demystify the NLC and threatened to dismiss any staff found to express interest in unionism or associate with the NLC or participate in the impending picketing of the bank.”
“To signal her war against Congress, Mrs. Osibodu had ordered that union dues deducted from salaries of the bank’s workers be remitted to them. This order has already been expeditiously carried out. We see all these actions and utterances as open declarations of war against Nigeria workers in general and the NLC in particular.”
The congress said it is at a loss that the management of the bank which has been relating with the same ASSBIFI would suddenly wake up and take a unilateral decision to de-recognise their affiliate, which has operated for years and is recognised by existing laws of the land.
However, Union Bank management claims there’s an injunction from the National Industrial Court against the NCL from picketing any of its branches. Francis Barde, the bank’s spokesperson, said, “We are hoping that the Nigeria Labour Congress will respect the law and reconsider its stand.”
No court order
The NLC said it has not been served with any order.
“We don’t know anything about any court injunction debarring us from picketing the bank. I have not seen anything to that effect,” said Denja Yakubu, the assistant secretary.
“One thing I know is that our picketing is starting on Monday. Mrs. Osibodu has boasted that she had deployed soldiers to guard all its branches across the country and ordered them to shoot-at-sight any worker who comes for picketing.
“The congress wishes to state that we are ready to confront and if possible die rather than watch the management of Union Bank condemn its workers to second slavery through vagrant abuse of their rights to freedom of association, as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution, the Trade Union Act 2005, and ILO conventions 87 and 88 of which Nigeria is a signatory,” Mr. Yakubu said.
The congress said it is not the duty of Mrs. Osibodu to de-recognise ASSBIFI, its affiliate, or any industrial union for that matter, since there are statutory bodies in place to regulate trade union activities.
“On the legality or otherwise of ASSBIFI, we wish to unequivocally state that the dispute is still pending at the Industrial Arbitration Panel (AIP) and no judgement has been delivered up to this moment to warrant the unfortunate and totally contemptuous decision of the Union Bank management,” Mr. Yakubu added.
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