CASUALISATION AND THE DENIAL OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS: Growing Threats to Labour in Nigeria

Trade Unions Must Build a Nationwide Campaign Against Casualisation and Indecent Labour Practices and the Persecution of Anti-Casualisation Activists

At the centre of the deepening crisis in labour relations in Nigeria is the rapid spread of casual jobs, contract staffing, and other forms of precarious employment, accompanied by the systematic denial of workers’ fundamental rights—most notably the right to unionise and the creation of slave-like environment which forbids agitation or struggle for better pay and decent condition  . These attacks on labour are not accidental; they form part of a deliberate strategy to weaken organised labour and entrench exploitation.

By Abiodun Bamigboye

A brutal example of this was the mass dismissal of over 800 workers at the Dangote Refinery for exercising their lawful right to join trade unions such as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). A similar pattern is evident in the banking sector and maritime industry, where employers routinely replace permanent jobs with temporary, short-term, and non-standard contracts in order to deny workers job security, benefits, and union representation.

Trade unions exist to defend workers against exploitation, secure decent wages, protect health and safety, and give workers a collective voice. Any attempt to deny right to a trade union is an attack on democratic rights, social justice, and human dignity. However, unfortunately there are several instances where trade unions exit but leaders do not defend the rights and interest of workers. Rather, they use their position to curry favour from the management at the expense of workers

Sadly, casualisation, outsourcing, and contract staffing have increasingly become the dominant employment model, consciously deployed by sections of the ruling elite and big business to suppress resistance, undermine trade unions, and normalise indecent labour practices in the drive for super profits.

These practices are far from being isolated incidents, they reflect the everyday reality of millions of Nigerian workers across both the public and private sectors. They represent a grave assault on workers’ rights and violate Nigeria’s labour laws as well as international conventions that guarantee freedom of association and collective bargaining.

THE URGENT NEED FOR A NATIONWIDE ANTI-CASUALISATION CAMPAIGN

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and all affiliated industrial unions, working together with civil society activists and organisations, urgently need to organise a coordinated, nationwide campaign against casualisation, outsourcing, and every form of indecent labour practice that continues to undermine workers’ dignity and job security. This campaign must insist on the complete abolition of casual and contract labour, the immediate absorption of all casualised and outsourced workers into permanent employment, and the full enforcement of labour rights, benefits, and trade union freedoms as guaranteed by law. Equally central must be a firm demand for an end to the harassment, persecution, and criminalisation of labour activists.

The growing victimisation of worker organisers, including Abbey Trotsky, the Oyo State Coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), starkly illustrates the urgency of defending those who stand up against casualisation and exploitation. An injury to one is an injury to all; the silencing of labour activists threatens the entire working class.

Labour leadership must realise that it is their failure to initiate serious fight against casualization that emboldened Aliko Dangote to brazenly repress workers’ rights in his refinery. He had been previously allowed to prohibit unionization in his old companies like Dangote Cement and Dangote Pasta by trade unions who did not put up any serious fight. It should also be noted that contrary his promise at the meeting with relevant industrial unions shortly after his emergence, NLC President Joe Ajaero has not yet initiated any serious campaign against casualization.

At this moment, the labour movement must go beyond statements, press releases, and conference resolutions. The NLC and TUC should establish anti-casualisation committees in every state and workplace, charged with mobilising workers for sustained mass actions, protests, and—where necessary—coordinated strike actions. We urge that that also have representatives from socialist, left and human rights organisations should also be included in the committees. Only through organised, collective struggle can union rights be defended, job security guaranteed, and living wages won.

A genuine and effective anti-casualisation campaign cannot be limited to the workplace alone. It must be consciously linked to the broader socio-economic issues confronting Nigerian workers, the unemployed, and the poor. Casualisation thrives in an economic system that prioritises profit over human need, and confronting it requires challenging the policies and structures that sustain exploitation.

Central to this broader struggle is building of a mass resistance against all anti-poor policies and fighting for the nationalisation and democratic management of commanding sectors of economy in order to liberate resources of the society which are presently in the hand of a few and use them for the benefits of the vast majority and genuine development of the society. To achieve this also calls for formation and building of mass working people’s party on a socialist program.