The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has asked the management of the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery to tender an open apology to the group for the dismissal of more than 800 Nigerian workers.
While appearing on Channels Television today , the Secretary General of TUC, Nuhu Toro, noted that the refinery violated the sacked workers’ constitutional rights.
The TUC Chief was reacting to the disagreement between the refinery and the Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) over unionisation.
“The Dangote and PENGASSAN rift concerns the TUC because PENGASSAN is an affiliate of the TUC, and there is no way they can beat your child, and the father stays aloof.
“Even the last meeting that was held on the 8th of September at the Ministry of Labour office, both PENGASSAN and the TUC were represented.
“We demand the reversal of the arbitrary dismissal of over 800 workers by Dangote. If that is done, the next thing that we demand is a public apology from the Dangote Refinery Management, with an assurance that such won’t be used against the union in the future,” he said.
According to him, the Dangote Refinery has, since the breakout of the ongoing dispute with PENGASSAN, avoided addressing the crux of the matter.
“In some of the commentaries flying around, Dangote has refused to address the substantial matter here, which is the violation of workers’ right to belong to any union of their choice.
“What Dangote simply did was to give us a bad name. The first thing he did was to violate the agreement we both signed, arising from the previous intervention, that no worker was going to be victimised.
“Unionisation is a right, and workers in Dangote have the right to belong to a union of their choice. In these circumstances, the workers have indicated that they want to belong to PENGASSAN, and they signed our forms.
“For Dangote to react, he has to hide under the guise of sabotage, which is debatable in my opinion, because by the time you say sabotage, you must be able to substantiate and provide evidence of who who are sabotaging,” said Toro.
He further alleged that management of the Refinery was operating double standards in its treatment of Nigerian workers as against its Indian expatriates, describing the controversy as “oppression” against the affected employees.
“Even more disturbing is the monopoly and double standard of Dangote, who enjoys massive state support, protection, and a lot of goodwill from this government. The same organisation turns around to deny Nigerians of their fundamental rights, while extending preferential treatment to expatriates, the Indians who we all know work within the same organisation.
“This is nothing but a show of economic oppression in modern-day slavery, and this is not acceptable to the TUC and even PENGASSAN,” the TUC secretary general stated.
He argued that Dngote Refinery should allow its workers to belong to unions of their choice.
“Dangote should allow the workers to belong to the union of their choice. He should respect the rights of the over 800 workers and reinstate them; the unions are also ready to shift grounds in the interest of Nigerians.
“Don’t forget that we are also Nigerians, and nobody in Nigeria is more patriotic than the workers who toil to create the wealth that is used to develop this nation.
“So when I listen to commentaries about the free trade zones and people not being patriotic, it is laughable. Onne is a free trade zone, and workers in ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies in Onne are members of unions,” Toro added.
He recalled when the unions had stood by Aliko Dangote when he was being victimised.
“It is instructive that the organised unions in Nigeria have at some point stood by Dangote when we felt he was being trampled upon, when we felt he was not getting the commensurate interventions he needed to kickstart the refinery. So, it will be very unfair for anybody to think we want to put a spanner in the wheel of the refinery,” he said.
He dismissed public perception that the workers were not patriotic Nigerians and were sabotaging the economy, adding that they would resist alleged slavery by the Dangote Refinery.
“Unions are patriotic Nigerians, and we don’t have any other country, and we also appreciate that the Dangote Refinery has decided to invest in Nigeria, thereby for millions of Nigerians.
“But what we will not take is slave labour. Slave labour, in terms that the law is very clear on the terms of employment, and union in the workplace is part of their fundamental rights, ” he said.
