Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has said the registration of Congress Of Nigeria University Academics (CONUA) as a new union for university lecturers is in breach of the provisions of the Trade Unions Act and a recipe for chaos and confusion in the university sector.
NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, made the remarks in Abuja on Thursday while interacting with journalists on the sidelines of an event to mark the 2022 World Day for Decent Work.
Wabba said the Congress will write to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige to draw his attention to the violation of the provisions of the Labour Laws.
Nigeria Pilot reports that on Tuesday, the government through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, issued letters of recognition to CONUA and NAMDA.
The government said with the letters, the two unions could co- exist with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the university system.
But Wabba said the action was in violation of the country’s Labour laws.
He said: “As somebody that has been in the industrial relations for a very long time and as a governing body member of the ILO that also sits on the Committee of Freedom of Information, I can confirm that the registration of the two other unions is a violation of our Labour Act, particularly Section 5, Subsection (4) which provides clearly that where already an existing union represent the interests of the union that is about to be registered that that union should not be registered.
“That has been tested at the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court affirms that the principle of freedom of association also entails that section 40 is regulated by section 41 and 46 that where your rights ends, that’s also where the rights of somebody ends.
“The provisions of the Labour Act is in tandem with the guiding principles of Freedom of Information. If you put it (the registration) through the mirror of our Labour Act, it has failed clearly.
“The Labour Act also provides clearly that before you register a union, it will be published in the National Gazette and you will take objection for three months; that has not been done. When you don’t do that it is a violation of the law.”
The NLC President urged the federal government to respect the provision of the Labour Act as regards the registration of a new association.
He said: “We are writing to the Minister to call his attention (to the Labour Law), because part of the issue is to respect our laws, notwithstanding what the issues are, not withstanding personal interests. The law should be above everybody’s interests and we should be able to respect the law. That is what the law says; it has been tested in the courts. The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in 2008. Five justices of the Supreme Court said clearly that the provision of Section 40 is regulated by Section 41 and therefore the regulation is actually the Labour Act. Therefore the provision of the Labour Act should be respected.
“I can tell you that two provisions of the Labour Act about registering a new union, because already, the Cadre that the new unions will represent is already unionised by ASUU. The law clearly spelt out that the registration of a new union cannot happen.
“The registration of the new unions is a recipe for chaos, a recipe for confusion and the law has envisaged that that should be avoided. That is the position of law and that is what we can say.” (Nigerian Pilot)
