US embassy cable - 04LAGOS1303

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 001303 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOL FOR ROBERT YOUNG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, KDEM, PGOV, ECON, NI 
SUBJECT: GON INTENT TO ABOLISH NATIONAL LABOR CONGRESS 
 
 
1. Summary. President Obasanjo's government seems to be 
pursuing efforts to persuade the national assembly to 
disband the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC).  The 
Government of Nigeria  (GON) asserts that it wants to 
liberalize Nigeria's labor movement.  The NLC believes 
the GON's move is vindictive and designed to weaken the 
only active opposition to GON rule.  The Senate is 
split along party lines on the matter.  End summary. 
 
2. For the second time in five months, President 
Olusegun Obasanjo may soon present a bill to the 
national assembly seeking to amend the Nigerian Trade 
Unions Act.  This bill, like the previous one, would 
put an end to the Nigerian Labor Congress as the only 
central labor organization in Nigeria.  The bill also 
aims to codify the process and procedures through which 
labor organizations may declare strikes. 
 
3. Among other things, the bill proposes liberalization 
of the Nigeria labor movement via registration of 
multiple labor unions that would replace the NLC. The 
bill would require trade unions wishing to declare a 
nation wide strike to secure the prior approval of at 
least two-thirds of its members.  Now, the NLC's 
central committee decides such matters. 
 
4. The GON claims the bill is justified since its 
enactment would ensure compliance with the 
International Labor Organization's (ILO) requirement 
that labor confederations be democratically organized. 
The GON further claims that the bill would promote 
democratization of labor and thus strengthen it, as 
well as allow workers to choose to become members of a 
labor organization of their own choice, in keeping with 
the spirit of the constitution. 
 
5. The NLC thinks otherwise. Its Deputy President, 
Joseph Akinlaja, told the media that the bill springs 
from the federal government's vindictiveness rather 
than a commitment or concern for the labor movement. 
"If we want multiple labor centers, it will be the 
decision of the workers rather than by any law of the 
federal government", Akinlaja said.  He suggested it is 
not a coincidence that the GON revived the idea of 
presenting such a bill to the national assembly barely 
a week after the NLC led a nation-wide strike 
protesting GON-approved fuel price increases. 
 
COMMENT 
 
6. The general belief in labor circles is that the 
GON's sole aim is suppressing labor and silencing 
voices of dissent as witnessed during the last three 
industrial actions embarked upon by the NLC. We have 
not seen the latest version, but recall that the 
previous one sought to permit the existence of multiple 
labor federations.  No doubt, such action would weaken 
the NLC's power and influence as the sole labor 
federation recognized by law. The bill that circulated 
late last year stipulated that trade unions no longer 
had to be affiliated to a central labor organization in 
Nigeria. 
 
7. Last year's bill had also sought to outlaw strikes 
not approved by two-thirds of the members of a labor 
union. The bill stipulated that 'no trade union or 
registered federation of trade unions by whatever name 
called, shall embark on an industrial action unless 
upon a resolution approving the strike action, passed 
by at least two thirds majority of delegates 
representing all the members of the union or federation 
of trade unions in secret ballot at a meeting for that 
purpose.' 
 
8. Another section of the previous bill indicated that 
a government official (the Registrar) "shall remove 
from the register the Nigeria Labor Congress as the 
only central labor organization," while another section 
stipulated that two or more trade unions, irrespective 
of their trade, occupation, or industry, could jointly 
form a federation of trade unions. 
 
9. Not all labor leaders are apt to be unhappy about 
reviving the proposed bill.  The rival Trade Union 
Congress, an association of senior employees who are 
not allowed by law to affiliate with the NLC, had 
supported aspects of the labor bill last year. TUC Head 
of Administration, Dan Uhumangho, had then told our 
political specialist that the TUC supported the removal 
of all relevant sections of the bill that recognized 
the NLC as the sole labor federation in Nigeria.   He 
said the TUC believed that every player in the labor 
sector should be allowed to have a say on any issue 
that affects it, since the NLC merely represents its 
own constituency and has no right to speak for others. 
Uhumangho had further said that the TUC supports 
creation of multiple labor centers, saying this is in 
line with democratic principles and the ILO's 
convention on freedom of association. 
10. On the other hand, Uhumangho had said the TUC did 
not support the aspects of the bill that seek to 
discontinue automatic dues check-off for union members. 
He had said that if check-off dues, which remain the 
major source of union funding, were rescinded, the 
unions would have cause to seek funding from outside 
sources that the GON might consider inimical to 
Nigeria's national interests. Uhumangho had added that 
the TUC also opposed withdrawal of a trade union's 
right to engage in industrial action. 
 
11. It is not clear how the new bill will play out in 
the national assembly. The senate is split along party 
lines on the matter.  Several senators of the ruling 
party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), hailed the 
bill, saying it is democratic in that it gives workers 
freedom to decide to what group they may belong. But an 
Alliance for Democracy senator has claimed that the PDP 
aims to impose a dictatorship. According to the 
senator, the bill "violates the basic constitutional 
liberties of freedom of association and expression of 
ideas". Most senators, however, believe the fate of the 
proposed bill will depend on views to be articulated at 
a public hearing soon to be organized. 
 
12. What is clear is that even if the ILO has 
consistently advocated the existence of multiple labor 
federations in a country as a means of guaranteeing 
freedom of association, this fact does not, in and of 
itself, fully explain the GON's latest move. The likely 
re-introduction of the bill and its prospective impact 
on the NLC are indications that the GON is pursuing 
this measure to weaken organized labor's resistance to 
its unpopular policies. 
 
KRAMER