US embassy cable - 04LAGOS627

UNCLAS LAGOS 000627 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOL WASHDC FOR ROBERT YOUNG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, EPET, KDEM, NI, PGOV 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA:  Labor Update 
 
REF: (A) Lagos 462  (B) Lagos 146 
 
 
Banks become the first casualty in labor's renewed battle 
over casualization 
 
1.  On March 2, approximately 30 of the 56 Nigerian banks 
accused by the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) of engaging in 
anti-labor practices announced their decision to reduce 
contract labor and allow their employees to unionize (ref 
A).  However, many banks have reluctantly implemented the 
new policy.  A Citibank Manager, for example, told the CG 
that his employees met with the unions in a parking lot at 
night, adding that there was no way the bank would let union 
organizers into the building. 
 
2.  Following the banks' concession, the Ministry of Labor 
and Productivity, the NLC, and industry representatives 
agreed to develop a house union structure allowing industry 
employees to join the National Union of Banks, Insurance and 
Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) or the 
Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and 
Financial Institutions Employees (ASSBIFIE).  The process 
began in mid-March and is being monitored by a joint 
committee comprised of representatives from the Ministry of 
Labor and Productivity, the NLC, the Nigerian Employers 
Consultative Forum (NECA), and the Chartered Institute of 
Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). 
 
3.  The agreement is a victory for the NLC, an organization 
whose leadership is struggling to maintain credibility both 
internally and among the Nigerian public.  Labor leaders 
have indicated that their dispute with banks pertaining to 
the use of contact work is a first step toward a nationwide 
campaign against "casualization"; that is, part-time, 
intermittent, or temporary workers. 
 
 
NLC threatens to resume strike over petroleum tax 
 
4.  The NLC has again issued a threat to resume its 
suspended strike if the GON continues allegedly to disobey a 
court order that prohibits it from collecting a 1.50 Naira 
fuel tax (ref B).  The NLC wrote a letter to the Secretary 
of the Federal Government of Nigeria alleging that the 
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other 
marketers continue to incorporate the fuel tax in their 
pricing. 
 
5.  In January, the Federal Appeals Court ruled that both 
parties should return to pre-tax prices pending its official 
decision.  The parties were also ordered to work together to 
resolve the dispute.  However, NLC lawyer, Femi Falana, told 
the court during its last hearing, that there has been no 
dialogue between the NLC and the GON.  While the NLC is 
considering a plan to mobilize the public, it will likely 
defer action until after the court returns from recess in 
mid-April. 
 
Dispute over benefits at ExxonMobil leads to a lockout 
 
6.  Bayo Olowoshile, Deputy General Secretary of the 
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of 
Nigeria (PENGASSAN), met with Laboff on March 8, 2004, to 
request assistance in resolving a three-year old dispute 
regarding staff pensions and other benefits at ExxonMobil. 
Olowoshile explained that the package for ExxonMobil 
downstream employees, as a percentage of total remuneration, 
is not consistent with the package offered to upstream 
employees.  In addition, he said the benefits given to 
downstream employees are as much as thirty percent below 
industry standards.  By early March, the dispute had 
escalated, resulting in a lockout of several employees at 
Mobil Oil Plc.  However, on March 16, ExxonMobil and 
PENGASSAN signed an agreement to reexamine the benefits of 
workers downstream, and the locked-out Mobil employees were 
allowed to return to work. 
 
Hinson-Jones