CASUALISATION DEEPENS AS LABOUR LEADERS PROMISED ACTIONS REMAIN UNFULFILLED
NLC and TUC Must Lead a Nationwide Anti-Casualisation Struggle
By Abbey Trotsky
Casualisation has become one of the greatest challenges confronting the Nigerian labour movement. Almost four years after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero, pledged to launch a nationwide struggle against casual employment and other forms of indecent labour practices, the problem has not only persisted but has expanded dramatically. Today, the insecure and indecent employment model that was once largely confined to the manufacturing sector has become deeply entrenched in other private sectors and increasingly implemented in the public sector, threatening workers’ rights, weakening trade unions, and undermining the principles of decent work.
THE GROWING SPREAD OF PRECARIOUS EMPLOYMENT
Employers in manufacturing, banking, telecommunications, oil and gas, logistics, healthcare, education, construction, hospitality, retail, information technology, and even government institutions are increasingly relying on outsourcing, labour contracting and temporary appointments to reduce labour costs while denying workers the wages, benefits, job security, and career progression associated with decent employment. The National Bureau of Statistics reports that 93% of all Nigerian workers are in the ‘informal sector’ and for women workers it is 96%. As a result, millions of Nigerian workers receive significantly lower wages and are excluded from pensions, health insurance, paid annual leave, housing benefits, gratuity, promotion opportunities, and other employment benefits enjoyed by staff on decent employment. Casualisation has therefore become a major contributor to poverty, income inequality, economic insecurity, poor retirement pension, and psychological stress among workers. At the same time, it weakens collective bargaining, reduces workers’ purchasing power, and limits the ability of trade unions to effectively represent employees.
The climate of fear created by insecure employment and mass unemployment in the absence of trade union fight-back has emboldened the bosses to engage in widespread practice of arbitrary termination and imposition of indecent employment on workers that discourages many workers from reporting abuse, joining trade unions, or demanding improved working conditions. Consequently, many continue to endure exploitation in silence.
The continued expansion of indecent and unhealthy working condition across various sector of economy demonstrates that occasional statements of concern by the NLC are no longer sufficient. What is required is a coordinated, sustained, and nationwide campaign and struggle capable of confronting exploitative employment practices, organising vulnerable workers, and rebuilding confidence in organised labour.
ESTABLISHING ANTI-CASUALISATION COMMITTEES
The first step should be the establishment of Anti-Casualisation Committees in every state under the joint coordination of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC). These committees should comprise representatives of affiliate unions, socialist groups and civil society organisations professional associations such as the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Their responsibilities should include mobilising workers for mass actions against indecent and precarious employment, documenting cases of casualisation and other forms of precarious employment, monitoring employers’ compliance with labour laws and international labour standards, coordinating workplace organising and unionisation efforts, providing legal support and facilitating strategic litigation on behalf of affected workers, and advocating comprehensive review of Nigeria’s labour laws to address both existing and emerging forms of insecure employment. Through these activities, the committees would serve as the institutional backbone of a coordinated national struggle against casualization.
PUBLIC EDUCATION
At the heart of the campaign must be sustained public and workers’ education. Many workers accept exploitative contracts either because they are unaware of their rights or because they believe insecure employment is an unavoidable consequence of a difficult and exploitative labour market.
The proposed Anti-Casualisation Committees should therefore organise regular public symposia, workplace seminars, town hall meetings, public lectures, radio and television discussions, and media engagements aimed at educating workers and stimulating a nationwide conversation on decent work. Organised labour should also embark on an extensive public awareness campaign through the production and distribution of educational materials such as posters, leaflets and, pamphlets that simplify workers’ rights and how to archive decent employment. These efforts should be reinforced by coordinated social media campaigns explaining workers’ rights, exposing exploitative employment practices, and encouraging workers to organise collectively. Universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, industrial estates, hospitals, banks, logistics companies, digital platforms, factories, markets, and other major workplaces should become focal points for these educational activities, thereby ensuring that awareness reaches workers across virtually every sector of the economy. At the same time, it should be explained that mass poverty, unemployment and widespread casual labour are the result of both capitalism’s failure to develop Nigeria and the repeated storms that hit the capitalist economy and so, alongside fighting for immediate improvements, Labour needs to agree to fight for a socialist alternative to the injustice and chaos of capitalism.
DEFENDING LABOUR ACTIVISTS UNDERGOING TRIALS
An effective anti-casualisation campaign must also include the defence of workers and labour activists who challenge exploitation. Organised labour should unequivocally reject every form of intimidation, harassment, victimisation, wrongful dismissal, or criminal prosecution arising from legitimate trade union activities. Workers must be free to organise, advocate, and demand better working conditions without fear of retaliation. My own continued prosecution, in my capacity as the Oyo State Coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), by the Nigeria Police at the instance of Sumal Foods Limited raises broader concerns about the shrinking democratic space available for labour organising and workers’ advocacy.
The NLC and TUC, together with other democratic organisations, should actively defend the democratic rights of workers to organise, associate freely, and campaign peacefully for decent work. Labour activism must never be criminalised in a democratic society!