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* Directs all affiliates to set up Action Mobilisation Cttees in 72 hours
* Calls Dangote Group a Behemoth
* Says Dangote Group operates as state within a state
* Fears FG has abdicated its responsibility to tame Dangote excesses
By John Egie
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has directed its affiliate unions to begin urgent mobilisation and prepare for a nationwide industrial action against Dangote Group over the conglomerate sustained anti-worker practices.
This development is in the heels of the ongoing nationwide strike declared by PENGASSAN which commenced yesterday, Monday, September 29, and has already paralysed operations in key oil and gas regulatory institutions including the NNPCL, NUPRC and NMDPRA.
The NLC directive is in solidarity with PENGASSAN in its clash with Dangote Refinery over the sack of 800 staff of the company who attempted to unionise.
PENGASSAN has already ordered a halt to crude and gas supplies to Dangote Refinery and operations at the refinery has consequently been shut down.
Government mediators stepped in to prevent prolonged disruption. A meeting of officials of the FG, PENGASSAN and the Dangote Group was held yesterday in Abuja.,
NLC President, Joe Ajaero described the Dangote Group as waging a “protracted and deliberate anti-worker crusade” against the Nigerian working class.
“The ongoing battle with PENGASSAN and NUPENG is merely a symptom of deeper sickness; a capitalist pathology of union-busting, worker enslavement, and gross impunity that defines the group’s industrial relations strategy. ”
He accused Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals of operating “as a state within a state”, alleging that Dangote has for too long flouted Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, violated International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 and 98, and treated national Labour laws with contempt.
“Their facilities are not workplaces but plantations of exploitation where the dignity of the worker is systematically crushed to maximise profit for the few.The time for pleading and endless, fruitless dialogue is over. The moment of decisive, collective action is jow” Ajaero said.
Each affiliate union has been ordered to set up an Action Mobilisation Committee and liase with the NLC national secretariat within 72 hours to coordinate strategy, logistics and communications.
“The impunity of Dangote Group must be met with the resistance of organised labour. No amount of media verbiage and paid hirelings will stop us from fighting for our liberty in the face of apparent regulatory capture, where the state seems to have abdicated its responsibility to hold this behemoth accountable for its breaches of our laws.
“The blood and sweat of Nigerian workers built this conglomerate; we will not let it become a monument of their oppression.” Ajaero affirmed.
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