The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), has condemned the recent attack on the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Joe Ajaero.
The union’s reaction to the incident was contained in a statement signed by Mr. Peters Adeyemi, its General Secretary, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), on Sunday in Abuja.
Ajaero was attacked in Imo on Nov. 1, when he went to the South-Eastern state to declare a mass protest over alleged anti-labour practices.
Reports claimed that he was later detained by the Police, but the Police have said that they brought him under their custody to save him from further attack by hoodlums.
Adeyemi said that the attack on the union leader was “a violation of trade union rights as well as the human rights of Ajaero.”
“The rights, which Ajaero was exercising in Owerri as the leader of the working people of Nigeria, is guaranteed by the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Constitution (as amended), and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions.
“Nigeria, as a member-state of ILO, has ratified ILO Conventions on Freedom of Association and Protection of Rights to Organise, 1948 (No.87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, 1949 (No.98),” he noted.
Adeyemi, who is also the Deputy President, Public Service International (PSI), accused the Imo government of unfair labour practices.
“The government hasn’t paid salaries and pension; it is not right to attack workers union leaders asking why these monies have not been paid,” the statement.
He added that Ajaero was on a solidarity visit to the workers in Imo and shouldn’t have been visited with tendencies “which were common in Nigeria only during military regimes”.
NASU rejected the claims that Ajaero was kept under “protective custody” in his own interest, and urged President Bola Tinubu to order a thorough investigation into the episode.
It said that such intervention would give trade unions the assurance that a clampdown would not be their lot whenever there is a dispute between government and labour. (NAN)
