As the nation marks 25 years of uninterrupted democratic process, the Director General of Micheal Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies ( MINILS) Ilorin has commended Tinubu administration for upholding the rights of organized labour to freely organize and bargain collectively despite the challenges economic crisis imposes on labour government relations in recent times .
Speaking on the sidelines of the on-going 112th Session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Comrade Issa Aremu said notwithstanding policy contestations that have trailed reforms resulting in national strikes in some instances, President Tinubu administration has commendably respected the provisions of ILO conventions with respect to freedom of associations and assembly without intimidation of the trade unions in the face of what he called “avoidable and preventable” national strikes.
In his Democracy Speech, President Tinubu had said that “In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict. No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution. Reasoned discussion and principled compromise are hallmarks of democracy.”
The Director General said 25 years of democratic governance has “consolidated work place democracy through free trade union activities that have produced three national minimum wages since 1999 which hitherto were denied during the past discredited military dictatorships”. Comrade Aremu therefore hailed organized labour, employers of labour and the Federal government for negotiating in good faith on the 6th national minimum wage with the expected executive bill to the National Assembly on the new minimum pay adding that all labour market actors must work to deepen democracy.
The Director General said it was time for governments at all levels to complement political democracy with “economic democracy that would create sustainable decent jobs, lower inflation, stabilize Naira and eradicate wage income poverty”. He therefore called for a new cooperative social pact between government and labour adding that government should involve as a matter of right labour in policy formulation and policy implementation.
While commending “the depth and rich recollections ” of the speech of President Tinubu on the struggle for democracy, comrade Aremu said history of the struggle against dictatorship cannot be complete without acknowledging the historic special role of trade union movement whose leaders from Micheal Imoudu, Frank KOKORI to Adams Oshiomhole were harassed and whose unions were wantonly dissolved with posted military administrators . According to him “labor not only creates wealth but labour is the true conveyer of independence and democracy in Nigeria”
