LINDA WORKERS EMBARKED ON PROTEST AGAIN OVER UNFAIR LABOUR PRACTICES
LINDA WORKERS EMBARKED ON PROTEST AGAIN OVER UNFAIR LABOUR PRACTICES
WE DEMAND REINSTATEMENT OF SACKED UNION LEADERS AND AN END TO “27 POINT TARGET”
The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns the management of the Lagos based Linda Company, producer of Xpression weave-on for anti-workers’ policies and the sack of 10 union leaders for their role in defending workers’ interests. The sack of these union leaders is aimed at beheading the struggle of workers for better welfare condition.
The company’s management for several years now has imposed unrealistic targets commonly known as “27 Points”. This 27 Points policy means that when a worker is unable to meet the unrealistic target, it is counted against him or her as demerits and when it gets to 27 demerits, the worker is automatically disengaged. However, it is not only inability to meet targets that counts as demerits. Even mistakes etc count as demerit also. Some of these demerits are mostly 3 pointers.
It will be recalled that a worker, Wisdom Atukpo died on 24th of September, 2014 while on duty and the management allegedly dumped his body in the gutter outside the premises the next day. The late Wisdom was sick and sought permission to go to the hospital but the management refused him. Considering that he was already on 23 pointer demerits and seeking medical attention would automatically earn him a sack, he continued working as the only option of survival until he dropped dead. For almost two years now, no management staff or owners of this company have been interrogated let alone prosecuted, something that shows the level of impunity enjoyed by the company and the anti-poor character of the government agencies. In fact, the Lagos State House of Assembly after a visit to the company in October 2014 described the working environment in Linda Manufacturing Company as “hell on earth”. Yet, neither the Lagos State government nor the federal government has done anything to end the slavery condition in the company.
Also condemnable is the police brutality and harassment that is still ongoing. The police fired tear-gas canisters at workers on the first day of the strike one of which hit a female worker who was hospitalized subsequently. The police did not stop at that but continued the militarization of the factory premises mobilizing about 11 trucks and over 50 armed police officers daily to harass and intimidate workers. This brutality is led by the Area Commander of Ogba, Mr. Edward C. As a matter of fact, Mr. Edward personally led his men to physically assault and harass members of the CDWR on February 8, 2016 outside the Iju factory premises when they paid solidarity visit to the workers.
We demand an end to unrealistic targets vis-Å•-vis the 27 Point policy and other unfair labour practices. We demand the recall of all the sacked union leaders. We also demand an end to police harassment and needless militarization of the company. We call for the arrest and prosecution of the policeman that shot the female worker.
We hereby call on the leadership of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear and Non-Metallic Workers (NUCFRLANMPE) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to mobilise for sustained mass solidarity actions in support of these workers.