Democratic Socialist Movement

For Struggle, Solidarity and Socialism in Nigeria

By - DSM

CALL FOR URGENT SOLIDARITY FOR PROTESTING DURAPACK WORKERS

Over 100 workers of the Durapack company located around Guinness, Ikeja, Lagos are currently protesting at the gate of the factory.

Durapack workers’ picket line January 4, 2021

This was a follow up to the spontaneous protest which broke out late December 2020 as a result of refusal of company management to pay workers their due end of the year bonus. This is on top of longstanding protracted workers’ grievances over pay, conditions, lack of unionization and slave labour. The Durapack company is run like a slave camp in violation of labour laws and workers’ rights.

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights (CDWR) has been active in supporting Durapack workers’ disputes since around 2013.

Workers’ demands for change

Being the first day of resumption, today’s workers protest is meant to demand (1) No worker to be sacked as a result of spontaneous protest in December (2) No worker to be arrested for spurious allegation of looting of company goods (3) Immediate negotiations of the longstanding key areas of dispute between workers and management to guarantee industrial peace.

Demanding union rights

Arising out of a workers’ meeting over the weekend, these demands were to be the condition upon which they would agree to resume work this morning. However instead of addressing the workers, we have it on good authority that the company management plans to deploy police to break the protest and arrest the workers including their key leader, Comrade Onabule Mayowa (a member of the CDWR and DSM) who was sacked last year for organising the workers.

Some of the workers’ demands

The purpose of this statement is to inform the public of what is happening and appeal for solidarity of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the wider trade union movement, civil society organisations and the media to prevail on the Lagos State Commissioner of Police not to attack workers’ democratic rights to peaceful assembly, and call on the management to meet the demands of the workers. We shall keep you posted of further developments.

Comrade Chinedu Bosah

National Publicity Secretary CDWR

E-mail: [email protected]