The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that 2024 is a year filled with harrowing hardship and the worst of its kind for Nigerian workers.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said this at the opening session of the Nigeria Labour Congress 2024 Harmattan School in Abuja, tagged, “Trade Unions and the Quest for a New Social Contract.
Charging workers participating in the harmattan school to actively engage in the training, which aims at preparing workers for the engagement and negotiation for the new social contract, Ajaero said: “I welcome you to a year that we have witnessed one of the greatest turbulence in our history as a movement, a period where we have been invaded, ransacked, and subjected to the highest level of threats and intimidation.
“A year that we have been charged with treasonable felony, financing cybercrime, and other sundry crimes. A year where our liberties have been forcefully emasculated, and the year we were arrested and detained by the state.
“A year where we have had to negotiate a new minimum wage in the midst of the worst kind of harrowing hardship ever seen in our clime. A year where workers and other Nigerians go to bed fearing what the next day may bring, especially in the marketplaces.
“It has truly been a year like no other year in our history, thus presenting us with unknown challenges that sometimes defy human relations and logic.”
He went further to say: “This year’s harmattan school affords us all the opportunity to dissect all we have been through this year, assess their dynamics, and then initiate actionable steps to make ourselves stronger and better. We believe that in those events, we have emerged stronger, more resilient, and better positioned to deliver on the expectations of Nigerian workers and people.
“All these events were nothing but attempts to weaken and undermine our capacity as a movement to deliver on our job to our primary and secondary constituencies. The articulation and protection of workers’ rights is our primary responsibility, and anything we do that does not approximate to that amounts to failure.
“We are therefore left with no other choice than to focus with greater determination and zeal on this mission of making our workplaces and indeed our nation yield better results to Nigerian workers.”
Vanessa Phala said: “Solidarity is highly needed at this critical time among trade unions in Nigeria to engage government to find solutions to some of the challenges that the workers are experiencing.
“We know that in spite of the newly negotiated minimum wage that was approved, the rising cost of goods and services, the rising cost of fuel, is really not making that minimum wage have the impact that we want to see.
“Therefore, I charge the conversation in the Harmattan school to focus on identifying the kind of social contract that will take Nigeria forward.
“As we know, this concept of social contract is very important, and it actually gives us an opportunity to take stock of how far we have come in this transformation and the changes that are happening. But most importantly, to make sure that we have not excluded anybody, especially those vulnerable workers from communities that are far to reach, and that everybody is empowered.
“I expect that the conclusion of this school will identify the priorities of the NLC and how it will engage in policy discussions with the leadership of the country on matters that are of interest and matters that are of concern for the workers here.
“The Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Antonio Guterres, spoke about the issue of social contract, and he actually says this new social contract should be based on rebuilding trust in institutions. It must be inclusive, and it must protect and ensure participation of all those that are involved.”
