Workers Struggle

Slump in Oil Prices: Tinubu and his Utopian Way Out

The former governor of Lagos State and Chieftain of the bourgeois opposition party All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu wrote an article which appeared in many national dailies with the tittle : " Slump in Oil Prices: A Progressive Way Out". The two main lines of arguement of the article were criticism of fiscal austerity and monetary tightening and a prescription of fiscal and monetary expansion, which in Nigeria means decoupling fiscal spending from dollar receipts.

Before going into critique of Tinubu's letter, it is important to give some background against which the bourgeois politician wrote. Nigeria, as a monocommodity economy, depends on oil exports for 90% of her foreign exchange earnings and 80% of government revenues. Over the last four months, crude oil has lost more than 30% of its price; from the June peak of $115 per barrel to less than $78 per barrel, below the benchmark price for Nigeria's 2015 budget. Nigeria's excess crude account balance fell by twice as much, losing more than 60% of its value; from $4.1 billion to $1.4 billion at the moment. Naira lost more than 7% of its value so far this year. The fate of Nigeria's economy will not be decided internally; events on global level are the decisive factors.

Insecurity in Kano and the Recent Kaduna Bombings

by Musa Atiku

In the last four years, suicide bombing has become one of the avowed weapons of the right wing Boko Haram insurgency campaign in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. In the past, we have had suicide bombers detonating strapped bomb in the Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, Bornu, Adamawa, Yobe, Plateau, Kaduna and Kano States killing hundreds of innocent people in the process. Whereas in most of the instances where bombs were sporadically detonated, the political colouration and perceived intents were vague in contents as per those targeted, the July 23, 2014 twin-suicide bombings in Kaduna state and the July 27 & 28, 2014 Kano carnages appeared to have a different colouration from the usual suicide bombings. Musa Atiku places the two events into proper perspectives.

Insecurity in Kano and the Recent Kaduna Bombings

by Musa Atiku

In the last four years, suicide bombing has become one of the avowed weapons of the right wing Boko Haram insurgency campaign in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. In the past, we have had suicide bombers detonating strapped bomb in the Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, Bornu, Adamawa, Yobe, Plateau, Kaduna and Kano States killing hundreds of innocent people in the process. Whereas in most of the instances where bombs were sporadically detonated, the political colouration and perceived intents were vague in contents as per those targeted, the July 23, 2014 twin-suicide bombings in Kaduna state and the July 27 & 28, 2014 Kano carnages appeared to have a different colouration from the usual suicide bombings. Musa Atiku places the two events into proper perspectives.

On Monday, 21/10/13, the academic staff of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, AOCOED, Ijanikin, Lagos, organized around Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, organized a congress of their union at the college’s main auditorium. The union is the equivalent of ASUU in universities.

While attention is still on the draconian traffic laws recently imposed by the ACN government in Lagos, another major attack on the working masses of Lagos is already in progress. The Lagos state government had perfected plans to increase the taxes of the overtaxed workers of Lagos. The current payslip for July already reflects this crude reality. The State had increased the taxes payable by Lagos state workers without any form of prior discussion with the state NLC and the various public sector workers unions including the Nigerian Medical Association.

As usual, there is a news blackout by the mainstream media about this attack. The information got out when the governor summoned the State NLC and the public sector union leaderships to a meeting last week Thursday, 9/08/12, to inform them of the coup on workers' wages. Fasola claimed that due to the heavy debt profile of Lagos state, the government had increased the taxes of workers, in essence cut down wages, in order to pay the fictitious debt the ACN regime has incurred over the years.

It appears that the nation has not yet seen the end of victimizations and maltreatment of workers by the Dangote Group. A May 1 2012 online edition of the Workers Alternative gave an account of the gross injustice going on at the Pasta subsidiary at Ikorodu. In this current report, the workers bearing the brunt of the now familiar Dangote’s sword of Damocles are the Apapa cement workers.

We call on all our readers to support the Public Campaign in defence of over 200 workers of Dangote Pasta at Ikorodu, Lagos (Nigeria) sacked for refusing to resign their membership of the in-house workers’ union since August 2010. We underline the fact that the main trade union organisers were severely beaten in the process and the families of these workers are suffering terribly as a consequence of these actions on the part of management.

This is to raise a public campaign about the plight of over 200 workers at the Dangote Pasta plant in Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria, who were sacked for belonging to the in-house workers’ union in August 2010 (that is, nine months ago!).

It all started on August 11th 2010 when the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUBFTE), which Dangote Pasta workers belong to, inaugurated the company’s chapter of the Union after several years of struggle. The management of the company also signed an agreement with the union and nobody raised an eyebrow.

WORKERS & YOUTH DEFENCE CAMPAIGN (WYDC)

Public Campaign in support of over 200 workers of Dangote Pasta at Ikorodu Lagos sacked for refusing to resign their membership of the in-house workers’ union since August 2010  (nine months ago):

Save Our Soul!

This is to raise a public campaign about the plight of over 200 workers of Dangote Pasta Ikorodu Lagos Nigeria, who were sacked for belonging to the in-house workers’ union since August 2010(nine months ago).

On Thursday, August 13, 2009 was the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) rally in Ibadan. The protest was against the government policy of deregulation of the oil sector, workers demand for 52,200 minimum wage and against various anti-people policies of the government. The rally in Ibadan was the 7th of such rallies which had also held in Kano, Lagos, Makurdi, Enugu, Asaba and Maiduguri.

 


For Better welfare package

Against victimisation


 The Medical Guild, the umbrella body for all medical doctors employed by the Lagos State Government, met at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) on Monday, 20th of April 2009 and signified its intention to resume another round of strike action to pursue its demand at the expiration of a ten-day ultimatum to the Lagos State Government.

 

Better welfare package; Against victimisation

These demands are: better welfare package with the immediate implementation of an improved salary structure based on the CONTISS Salary Scale, which has already been implemented by the Federal Government and a number of states in the federation since January 2007. CONTISS is expected to enhance the salaries by almost 50% across the board for all health workers. The demands of the Medical Guild also include better working environment in the hospitals, particularly with regard to having conducive consulting rooms, clinics, operating theaters etc as against the present unpalatable situation of doctors “taking call-duties in filthy, unhygienic, ramshackle rooms and hospitals still largely being run in darkness, clinics run in hot rooms with equipment in various states of dilapidation”.

Other major demands are the immediate reinstatement of the Medical Guild Chairman, Dr Ibrahim Olaifa, who was recently dismissed from service because of his union activities, especially for addressing press conferences on the doctors’ agitation and immediate stoppage of all forms of harassment and victimization of the Guild officials/activists.

The Guild is to meet immediately at the same venue after the expiration of the ultimatum to determine the mode of operation of the next round of agitations.

It will be recalled that the leadership of the Medical Guild prompted the congress to suspend the last round of strike action on the 7th of January 2009 even when the Lagos State Government was yet to meet any of the outlined demands of the strike on the understanding that the demands will be met within three months of suspending the strike action.

The Nigerian teachers under the aegis of the NUT have been on strike to back up their demands for a Teachers' Salary Scale (TSS), a demand that has been raised for about 20 years. This same demand was agreed to by the government in 2003, but up till now has never been signed. One significant aspect of this strike is the overwhelming support it is presently enjoying from the public. Almost all bourgeois newspapers put the public support at a huge 88% of the population. This is a magnificent response and a major source of inspiration for the teachers.

Suffice it to say, this present strike has thrown up a lot of troubling questions. If the demand has been raised for 20 years ago, why is the NUT saying enough is enough now? What is responsible for this marvellous public support and can it be sustained? What must the NUT do to win this battle once and for all? These are the questions to be tackled by this write-up and most importantly to solidarise with the father of all professions.

The General Meeting of the Medical Guild, the umbrella body of all doctors employed by the Lagos state government, was held on Wednesday, December 31, 2009 with a resolve by the overwhelming majority - more than 90% present and voting - to embark on an indefinite strike action as of January 5, 2009. This is with the aim to press home the demands for an improved salary package based on the CONTISS Salary Scale, which has already been implemented by the Federal Government and a number of states in the federation since January 2007.
Demands

Organized labour in Nigeria has presented a demand for a N52,000 minimum wage to the government. This has obviously generated a lot of heat from all quarters. The bourgeois intellectuals have come in their multitude to explain to and confuse the public that this demand is not only unrealistic, but that it is also highly detrimental to the proper functioning of the fragile Nigerian economy. It would lead to inflation and worsen the unemployment figures, so they claim. It is imperative that we highlight their claims and puncture their unintelligent analysis. This article is aimed at doing justice to this.
Is the demand justified?

December 12th, 2008 is a day the residents of Sagamu in Ogun State will not forget in a hurry. This was a day in which one of their own, a woman, was shot dead by the police and then branded as leader of a gang of robbers.

The woman, Funmilayo Abudu, a mother of four, was until her death an innocent worker, going about her daily chores in the pursuit of ‘daily bread’ and a better life for herself and her family

The woman did not deserve to die, and definitely not under the circumstances in which she was killed. The fact that the policemen concerned did not show any remorse for a life “mistakenly” cut short by them, and instead went on to dress her corpse up as a leader of a gang of robbers blows the mind.

By Editorial Board of Workers' Alternative    
Monday, 10 July 2006

Since we issued the June 26, 2006 editorial statement, the strike of the workers continues and the management of Nigerchin is desperately ruthless. They are working day and night using the dirtiest tricks in the book towards undermining the workers and getting rid of all them.

On June 27, they issued a memo saying that they had closed down the factory; that workers should come and collect the pay-offs. In addition, they say that workers interested in working for Nigerchin should reapply!

This is in spite of the fact that they were to meet with the representative of the NLC that week. However, they arrogantly declined to meet with the NLC or the NUSDE representatives. They then fixed the meeting with the NLC for Wednesday July 5.

 

Fraternal Greetings to our Comrades in the Nigerian Union of Teachers. We humbly salute the courage and steadfastness you have clearly demonstrated before and during this just and necessary industrial action that you have embarked upon to force the regime of Umaru Musa Yar adua to approve the Teachers Salary Scale for Nigerian teachers in Nigeria.