By; USMAN NASIDI, Kaduna
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Kaduna State Council has reiterated its commitment towards continuous engagement of its members via capacity building programmes to strengthen the organizational capacity of the leadership of its branches across the state.
The NLC chairperson, Comrade Ayuba Magaji Suleiman stated this on Saturday, during the 2023 NLC/TUC Pre-May Day symposium with the theme, “Workers Rights and Socio-economic Justice in kaduna.
Comrade Ayuba Magaji explained that training and retraining of local leadership of NLC branches across the state is key to having enlightened and vibrant unions that are capable of promoting the interest of workers for improved performance and productivity.
“To kick-start this year’s activities, permit me to refresh our memories and share with you some highlights in form of over-view of the theme in perspective. In a simple terms, workers rights are social, economic, legal and human rights, relating to freedom an employee or employees deserves and earned at work place and within the framework of working relationship with their employers.
“The legal aspect of workers’ right entails all the laws, guidelines, regulations, conventions, treaties and memorandum understanding which are provided to advance or promote as well as protect the discharge and dispensation of the freedom of workers at work and within the working circumstances.”
According to him, the legal framework are well documented and are available in the various country’s organization conventions/recommendations, and to get more elaborate details of Workers’ Right and get simple instants, one can considered reading the 190 International Labour Organization’s conventions and the 206 recommendations which encompasses provisions to promote and protects the right of workers.
“As we are here today to take the Symposium, permit me to reiterate our commitment as a state council of the congress, to the principles of our founding fathers in trade unionism; promoting and defending the interest of our members.
“To further take pro-active measures to discharge this honorable responsibility, we are determine to improve and strengthen the organizing capacity of all our affiliates through providing training and retraining programs and opportunities in our second term in office.” He said.
While congratulating workers for another May Day, the NLC chairperson lamented the current economic realities ranging from inflation, unemployment high cost, and low standard of living alongside insecurity which according to him had eroded the value of the minimum wage.
He called on governments not to remove subsidy, but revive the existing refineries for them to refine the nation’s crude to enable citizens have access to fuel at a cheaper rate to boost local production and development of the oil sector.
In a presentation on Workers Rights and Socio-economic Justice, a labour consultant, Mr. Kekere Solomon explained that justice is a bargaining factor and stressed the need for government to give workers their rights and privileges, and to ensure extant rules and regulations were followed to the later to promote welfare and socio-economic wellbeing of workers.
