Workers in unionised sector perform better, Says Ajaero

Joy Obakeye

National President of the United Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, has said that workers in unionize sector perform better than those from sectors not unionised.

Ajaero stated this during the inauguration of some workers of Telecommunications giant, MTN into the Private Telecommunication and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) in Lagos.

He expressed pleasure in the move by MTN to allow some of its staff members become members of the telecoms union, adding that the management is working to obey the law of the land.

Workers in unionise sector perform better than those from sectors not unionised and that is where we have sharp practices that people cut corners.

“Any company in Nigeria must obey the laws of this country and it is the laws that the issue of unionization is enshrined and PTECSSAN is a legitimately registered trade union, it’s not a matter of choice, or doing the union a favour.

The management of MTN is working to obey the law of the land and I believe that everywhere they are, people unionize and that is a universal human right rule that must be obeyed, even in Nigeria, the constitution recognises it.”

“The labour leader stressed that based on the pep talks workers receive, they tend to obey the union leaders and that helps in increasing productivity for the organization.

Unionized workers receive pep talks from their union leaders, workers tend to obey them more than their management.

“In the power sector, we tried that experiment, when their revenue dropped, we moved round and spoke to the workers and we got feedback that there is an increase in revenue.

So if MTN keys into unionisation, they will see a lot of benefits,he added.

Meanwhile, President of PTECSSAN, Oladapo Moses, revealed that the main objective is to have all workers in MTN and the telecoms sector, unionised.

“Our main objective is to have all workers in MTN unionised, so that they can have better packages, negotiate their own conditions of service.

Without the union, they have just the conditions of service given to them by the employer.

“We hope to achieve a good working condition for workers, ensure more productivity in terms of workers to management relationship and assure that our union will ensure that employers enjoy more productivity from workers.?

He kicked against the workers casualisation trend, stressing that job stability is important to attracting more investments into the sector.

“Casualisation of workers is evil, it is a bad trend in Nigeria and we as a labour union alongside our centre, will be working with our lawmakers to ensure that things like that are thrown out.

“Job stability is important, where employers and government get it wrong is in the area of terminating employment of workers and bring new ones, whereas the workers have gathered enough experience to grow the business.

What is needed to attract more investment is to ensure all worker in companies are unionised.

However, the Deputy Secretary of ULC, Comrade Chris Onyeka, said trade union is a mass based organisation built on the voluntary association of workers who are bound together under a common consciousness anchored on the objective realities of the workplace.

“However, the framework has come under severe and orchestrated pressures from all fronts especially from its social partners that ought to truly protect it and ensure that it survives.