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The unending casualisation of workers is becoming a huge challenge to stakeholders in the workplace, hence, a renewed call for a national policy to tackle the menace, Gloria Nwafor writes.
Undoubtedly, where there is an acute shortage of jobs for those seeking them, the temptation to exploit the system is high.
Coupled with the lack of adequate laws to protect the vulnerable casualised workers by the government, the lot of protecting those entangled in the mix naturally falls on the labour unions.
While the labour unions lack political powers and authority to stamp out casualisation, they often rely on various conventions and regulations of international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to carry out picketing of premises of firms that engage in the practice.
One of the fallouts of the just-concluded 111th International Labour Conference (ILC) of the ILO in Geneva, Switzerland, was the adoption of a recommendation on quality apprenticeships as a new labour standard.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who spoke on the culture of apprenticeship, job security and unfair employment practices, among others at workplaces, indicted the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the upsurge in casualisation and outsourcing of workers, among other forms of indecent employment practices.
He said: “The issue of job protection is sad because there are even no jobs. So, what are we protecting? Countries like ours have to capture the number of people that are within the unemployment brackets and underemployment brackets. A lot of people in Nigeria are underemployed.
“In the absence of social security or social safety, you have a lot of people, who are unemployed and you are talking about job protection. It is a big problem that we are in.
“It is the same with the issue of casualisation and outsourcing. The ministry does not seem to have an answer to this. Rather, they are trying to get unions to sign an agreement with employers, legalising casualisation. Those that are casualised or outsourced should and must belong to a union. How long will they remain as casual or outsourced workers?
“To worsen the matter, within a period, probably after every two years or even one year, they disengage these casuals and bring in another set of casuals. It is something that we will have to look at as a national policy and ensure that somebody cannot be outsourced forever. So, we need a new direction towards it.”
Indeed, casualisation cuts across virtually all sectors of the economy.
A report published by the Campaign for Democratic Workers’ Rights, showed that over 45 per cent of the workforce in Nigeria operates as casual workers, while 50 per cent of the burden of casualisation exists in the downstream oil and gas sub-sectors of the economy, telecommunication, banking, construction, mining and some other workplaces.
According to experts, development is assuming a worrisome dimension because of the saturated labour market and a quest to maximise profits by multinationals and other corporate entities.
Some labour leaders recently alleged that some multinationals regularly import ‘expatriates’ into the country to take full-time employment, leaving qualified Nigerians as ‘casuals or contract’ workers with no legal status or employment benefits.
The NLC boss, who noted that the challenge has become a general problem across the country, pledged to confront it headlong during a familiarisation visit to labour unions in Lagos and Ogun States, where the unions lamented the challenges of outsourcing, casualisation and contract staffing of workers.
The NLC chief said that the challenges are based on policies of government, which tend to dispose of workers of their income.
Going memory lane, he explained how he repositioned the Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and resisted labour contractors before the privatisation of the power sector, saying the union would have gone into extinction with many workers losing their jobs.
At the forum, he promised to bring back the anti-casualisation committee of the NLC, stating that workers should not be at the receiving end of the flawed system, adding that there is a new world of work, where contract staffers could be unionised.
Similarly, workers in the food, beverage and tobacco sector are no longer finding it easy as the challenges of casualisation and outsourcing is taking away the jobs of their full-time employees.
National President of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB), Jimoh Oyibo, who noted that the challenge is now a trend in the sector, revealed that casuals and outsourced workers are engaged with little pay, as low as N20,000 to N30,000 as salaries.
He said the union had approached the Federal Ministry of Labour to lay complaints requesting that a guideline that will regulate parties of outsourcing should be adopted.
“It is taking away jobs of permanent staff. These people are not only being engaged but they are engaged with little pay, as low as N20,000 to N30,000 as salaries. In this age and time, what can the amount do to take care of a family?” he said.
With economic challenges the nation is currently battling with, the FOBTOB chief also said employers are grappling with having to reduce manpower, because of the huge burden of high cost of raw material and energy cost, among others are wiping away their profits.
According to him: “Our employers look at cheaper labour and drop permanent staff for casuals to run the plants.”
Noting that the use of casuals to run plants is also at a risk, “because the trained ones have been relieved from the positions. It is dangerous because if you are looking for a cheap element for labour, you also look at the consequences thereafter, and of course, human health is important because we are in the food sector. It is not a place to bring out anyhow person to come and run your plant.
“Our employers want to get rid of the experienced ones and bring quacks to run the plants because they want to reduce costs. But we are looking at it to resolve the issue with management .
“From our union, we have always discouraged the idea of redundancy, as it is not a bailout option for any business. All we need is to sit and fashion a way out. We have frustrated that option that you want to throw our members out of jobs but in some cases, we allow that when we see it is becoming obvious and that it is the way to go.
“What we look at is the number that would be involved. Unlike in the past, where we have close to 200 workers disengaged, now we ensure the number does not go above a maximum of 50 workers. Though we have not gotten much redundancy we can assure you that it is not as bad as we have anticipated,” he said.
A former President of the Human Capital Providers Association (HUCaPAN), Aderemi Adegboyega, said that in Nigeria, agency work and outsourcing are legal and an approved business model, explaining that organisations involved must ensure they follow laid-down regulations to ensure ethical and fair labour practice to the workers.
Ensuring that wherever a Nigerian is found working, he or she must be engaged in decent work, Adegboyega said that HuCaPAN carried out joint inspections and made alliances with the central labour organisations to guarantee that Nigerian workers in the employment of private agencies are employed under decent work conditions concerning payment of minimum wage to the least person, granted freedom to associate, eligibility for pension and to work under conditions that are not injurious to health.
In his submission, the Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said while outsourcing is accepted globally, casualisation should be disallowed entirely.
He said the employers’ body was in support of a decent work environment and standardisation of employment across sectors.
“Outsourcing is globally accepted, while casualisation is frowned at. That the private sector is facing enormous challenges, which sometimes necessitate some companies going the route of outsourcing and casualisation might be correct, because of the socioeconomic situation that businesses are forced to endure. The harsh regulatory environment and dwindling income, all contribute to making doing business in Nigeria very uninteresting,” he said.
He said NECA has reached out to unions to deepen collaboration and advocate a favourable environment that will enable businesses to thrive, as well as enable employers and employees to contribute to national development.
He said the Ministry of Labour in partnership with the social partners has done much to regulate employment in most sectors
Recently, he said NECA and the ministry reviewed employment guidelines in the oil and gas industry. “It will progressively eradicate the issue of casualisation and contract staffing to ensure standardisation of employment in all industries. The ongoing effort is also to ensure standardisation of employment and decent work across the board,” he said.
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