2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Nigeria

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 5

Volkswagen Nigeria dismissed 25 workers:

According to the Joint Action Front, Volkswagen Nigeria dismissed 25 workers after they went on a strike over poor working conditions and the new company policy manual that does not guarantee workers' rights as laid out in the labour law in May 2014. According to the company policy manual, workers must give six months' prior notice when they want to resign as opposed to one month pursuant to the labour law. Workers also complained about not having received their medical allowances and gratuity pay.

Management at electricity distribution companies threatened to dismiss 5357 workers:

In April 2014, new management at electricity distribution companies threatened to dismiss 5357 workers for participating in strike actions against the outsourcing of jobs and inadequate working conditions. Ibadan and Jos electricity companies argued that the companies needed to be restructured and insisted that they would not tolerate union presence. The NLC called on the government to intervene in order to bring an end to the victimisation of union leaders and members in accordance with the tripartite agreement reached on 13 January 2014.

400 hotel workers sacked for trying to join a union:

Over 400 members of staff at the Radison Blu Hotel were sacked on Tuesday 27 January 2015 by the Chairman of the Hotel, Oba Otudeko following their attempts to join the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). According to the spokesperson of the sacked hotel staff, Abe Makojuola Daramola, a housekeeping supervisor, they had informed the hotel the week before of their intention of joining trade unions, but management objected. The staff went ahead and invited officials from the TUC and NLC to visit the staff in Lagos on 27 January to affiliate them to their unions. Management promptly sacked the staff concerned before the meeting could take place and on the night of Monday 26 January, on the orders of Mr. Otudeko, called in a technician to tamper with the power, plunging the entire hotel into darkness. Guests staying at the hotel were checked into other hotels, thereby paving the way for the over 400 members of staff to be issued termination letters, while the hotel premises were locked up and all activities suspended.

Collective bargaining stalled for ten years in the oil industry:

On 30 May 2014 the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) urged the Federal Government to intervene in the protracted leadership crisis within the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN). NUPENG President, Igwe Achese, noted that the collective bargaining agreement signed with IPMAN and Independent Marketers Branch ten years earlier was yet to be implemented due to the leadership crisis in IPMAN. The previous leadership of IPMAN had frustrated the union's efforts to unionise workers in IPMAN depots.

The union had written several letters to the federal government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the State Security Services asking them to intervene, without any positive results. It accused the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke of failing to take the issue seriously. The Department of State Security Services had intervened and the federal High court in Port Harcourt had declared Chief Obasi Lawson as the IPMAN President, but opposing factions with IPMAN had refused to recognise the court ruling.

The Petrol Station Workers (PSW) Branch of NUPENG added its voice to the protest, pointing out that it had not been able to negotiate conditions of service for its members as a result of the protracted crisis in IPMAN.

Although the IPMAN leadership crisis was resolved numerous problems remained, leading to strike action in September and December 2014 over many issues, including unsafe working conditions, casualisation and unfair labour practices, notably the transfer and dismissal of union leaders.

Hospital workers leaders arrested for organising strike:

Two representatives of the Medical and Health Workers' Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, were arrested in October 2014 for organising a strike. The workers had been on strike because they had not been paid since May and were going hungry. The union had written to the government and made several protests on paper. Nothing was done to resolve their situation however and so they applied to the police to be given permission to organise a demonstration. Instead of being given permission the Chairman and Secretary of the union were arrested.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.