NO TO FACTIONALISATION OF THE LAGOS TUC

CDWR CONDEMNS BRUEAUCRATIC IMPOSITION AND DICTATORSHIP IN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT

FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FIGHTING TRADE UNIONISM

The ongoing factionalisation of the Lagos State Chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) is a clear indication that the trade union movement lacks both democracy and a fighting leadership.

Lagos TUC’s delegate conference scheduled for September 17 and 18, 2025 failed to produce a leadership because the TUC President Festus Osifo insisted that his union (Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN) continue the dominance and control of the Lagos TUC against the wishes of the majority of the affiliated unions and delegates. Things took a new turn when the TUC national secretariat and PENGASSAN manipulated the delegate quota of PENGASSAN from 25 to 57 out of the total of 86 delegates, leaving 29 delegate slots to other affiliated unions. This was stoutly resisted by a majority of the unions who went ahead to conduct a separate delegate conference based on the original delegate allocation and a leadership led by Aladetan Abiodun emerged. Festus Osifo and PENGASSAN have equally created a separate leadership. The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns the undemocratic action of the TUC President and calls on him to allow democracy to determine the Lagos TUC leadership.

The CDWR also condemns a practice that makes capitations the sole determinant of delegate slots affiliate unions get in the trade union movement. This allows the financially buoyant unions to dominate a trade union federation even if such unions have relatively few members and leaderships are pro-management and pro-state in character. This dangerous policy can allow the capitalist state to financially back a pro-state union or “Yellow Union” to emerge in the leadership against genuine democratic tenets. We hold that what should determine delegate slots for affiliate unions should be active membership strength of the unions and not the amount of capitation a union pays to the trade union federation. Another dangerous practice is that delegates are chosen and handpicked by the leadership of the affiliate unions and not by members of the branches through democratically organised congresses.

Unfortunately, to ascertain the true, active membership strength of a union without manipulation in the absence of a genuine fighting leadership interested in defending workers’ rights and interest is extremely difficult. The lack of fighting and democratic leadership is also the major reason unions are losing their members in droves to casualization, contract staffing, neo-liberal and other anti-labour policies. There are workplaces that have relatively few union members and regularised staff compared to an overwhelming number of workers that have been crushed into slave-like employment and denied the right to join a union. The right-wing union leaders fail to resist these unfair labour practices but usually negotiate with the management for monthly bribe in lieu of union dues and union membership.

Unfortunately, the factionalisation of the Lagos State TUC is not on the basis of clear ideological differences upon which workers’ interest can be defended; it is simply a leadership struggle. Nonetheless, we welcome the resolve of the majority of the affiliate unions to resist the bureaucratic imposition and undemocratic action of the TUC President, Festus Osifo. However, if the mainstream leadership mean well, they have to demonstrate it by constantly and uncompromisingly defending workers’ interests including resisting all attacks and anti-labour practices at workplaces and consistently organising a fight-back against neo-liberal and anti-people capitalist policies of the government.

Also importantly, we call on the rank and file workers and activists to begin the struggle at workplaces and generally within the trade union movement to reposition it as a fighting and democratic platform. It is this struggle that can make trade unions to truly serve the collective interest of workers and not the self-serving interest of bureaucrats.

Chinedu Bosah

CDWR National Publicity Secretary

E-mail: [email protected]