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My Fellow Comrades and friends,
Happy New Year in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ and May God grant us a
peaceful, focused and fruitful
administration. May his favour and grace
be our portion in Jesus name. Amen.
Let me start by congratulating all of us
for holding a peaceful and successful
election on December 14th
2009.I feel greatly honoured to be in
your midst today but humbled by the
unanimous resolve by our members to
bestow on us the task of steering the
ship of TUC in Rivers State at this
critical time in the history of TUC in
the state, and in the country. I also
want to thank each of us for accepting
to serve in our various capacities. It
is my earnest prayer that God will give
us the wisdom, strength, determination
and grace to fulfil all our promises to
our members.
Comrades, after our election I have had
the privilege of meeting with my
predecessor Comrade Edward Orupabo,
informal meeting with the State NLC
Chairman Comrade Chris Oruge and our
amiable President General Comrade Peter
Esele. Similarly, I have had telephone
conversation with our able Secretary
General Chief John Kolawole. One thing
is clear from all the discussions and
meetings-these leaders expect a lot from
us and we cannot afford to fail them.
You would also recall that during the
campaign and while presenting the
acceptance speech on our behalf, we made
promises to the members. It is now time
to harmonise our promises, set
priorities and deliver on them.
The purpose of this meeting is first and
foremost to enable us know ourselves and
share our thoughts on the best
approaches that will guide our
administration in our determination to
lift TUC higher, as well as
effectively commence all
handover processes. It is an opportunity
to set some ground rules for our
administration.It is without doubt a
milestone indicating that we have
actually kicked-off our administration.
What is required of each of us now is to
rededicate ourselves to the ideals of
trade unionism, proactive in our
approach to industrial relations and
other issues, resolute and courageous in
our determination to serve our members
and our country. As leaders also in our
various affiliates, we must provide the
needed direction to enable our
affiliates fulfil the expectations of
our members. We must avoid the
temptation of being alienated from our
branches and affiliates. I want to see
vibrancy in our branches and affiliates.
I want to see our affiliates and
branches taking leadership of the labour
issues in their areas of jurisdiction. I
want to see more labour unions joining
us. I want to see a marked increase in
the number of branches and membership in
each of our affiliates. On my part, I
promise to give all the support I can.
We must also focus on improving on our
relationship with the Rivers State
Government, the Federal Ministry of
Labour and Productivity, Security
agencies in Rivers State, management of
the various companies/organisations, NLC
in Rivers State, other stakeholders in
the production chain and civil society
groups. We would also improve on our
relationship with our National
Secretariat and TUC in the Niger Delta
States. Building, maintaining and
improvement on salubrious relationship
carry with it some responsibilities. One
of such responsibilities is that it
imposes on us an obligation to be
careful and meticulous with our
correspondence with these organisations.
Already, the State Secretary and I have
started signing all correspondence
together and we will continue with that
practice. Accordingly let me inform us
that every correspondence must be signed
by at least two executive committee
members and cleared by me. It is
also important that as the chairman, I
am fully aware of your plans and marry
those plans with our goal and the plans
of others.
As the umbrella body of the Senior Staff
Associations in Nigeria we are expected
to provide direction for the labour
movement and accordingly we would
improve on the capacity of our State
council/affiliates to proactively meet
the rising industrial relations
challenges. As we speak here, our
affiliates and members expect us to
address some burning labour and
industrial relations issues. We must
therefore be committed and map
appropriate strategies to tackle the
labour issues relating to the following:
1) Expatriate Quota Abuse
2) Contract staffing and
casualisation
3) Health, Safety and security
of workers
4) Social dialogue and adequate
involvement of TUC and her affiliates on
all issues that affect us and our
members
5) On-going reforms in the
petroleum, aviation, banking ,public
sectors etc
6) All forms of abuses/unfair
Labour practices
7) The implementation of the
Pension Reform and workmen Compensation
acts
8) The implementation of the
collective bargaining agreements
9) Adherence to extant labour
laws and international labour standards
in handling labour issues
10) Effective recognition of the
right to freedom of association and
collective bargaining in the
non-unionised organisations.
It is evident that a lot is required of
us AND we must therefore be willing to
learn and improve on our capacity to
serve our members, be prudent in the
management of our resources (both human
and material) AND commit to work as a
family. Let me remind us that none of us
is better than all of us and that there
is no better alternative to teamwork,
cooperation and synergy. It is important
we work as a team. Teamwork, team spirit
and solidarity are the keys to our
success.
Any moment from now we will commence
courtesy calls on the Government and
some companies/organizations. We would
like to appeal for your full and active
participation.
Comrades, the reward for trade unionism
is mainly the joy of solidarity- the joy
we get from putting smiles on the faces
of people and bringing hope to the
hopeless. Nevertheless, I would like
to ask the State Secretary to workout
arrangements for honorarium for the Exco
members within the limits of available
resources.
I would also like us to set up a
committee of 3 Exco members to arrange
for a gathering to honour our immediate
past Exco members. The State
Secretary will head the Committee.
Because of the limitation of resources,
we plan to hold it between March and
June 2010.
We would similarly like to set up a
Contacts and solidarity Committee.
This committee is to ensure that we are
in are in regular touch with all our
affiliates, contribute to their progress
and solidarity as well as ensure that
the number of our affiliates are
enlarged. I will ask the Vice Chairman
and State Secretary to work out the
details of the terms of reference of the
committee as well as the membership.
However I would like to indicate that
Comrade Dickson Orlumeni, the Assistant
Secretary II, would head the committee.
Comrades, we also plan to enlarge our
State Council taking cognisance of
the size of the affiliates. This is to
ensure effective dissemination of
information and greater involvement of
our members in the affairs of TUC in
Rivers State. Presently all affiliates
have two representatives in the Rivers
State council irrespective of their
size. I propose for our consideration
the expansion of the State council as
follows-affiliates that have less than
10 delegates should be continue to be
represented by 2 persons in the State
Council, while 3 persons should
represent affiliates that have more than
10 delegates. Additionally, members of
the State Executive Committee having
been elected by the general house can no
longer be counted as representing their
affiliates in the state councils. That
is to say that they will not be counted
as part of the representatives of their
affiliates in the State Council.
Comrades, we also intend to make more
use of information technology in
communication. To this end we would
request that you give the State
Secretary functional email addresses of
yourself, the Secretariat/Contact person
of your affiliate in the State and the
contact person in your place of work.
Once again, I want to thank you for this
opportunity and for your attention. It
is my hope that we will enlarge our
spirit of openness, commitment,
communication, teamwork and solidarity.
I will earnestly appeal that we
approach our discussions and meeting as
“ONE FAMILY”.
Comrades, I wish all of us the best in
the task ahead. May God grant us the
grace, favour, strength and wisdom to
discharge our duties excellently and to
the glory of His Name. Amen.
Solidarity Forever,
Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu FCA
State Chairman, TUC Rivers State
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