Popular human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN has said that recent experiences have made many Nigerians hold the view that organised labour has become a toothless bulldog that only barks without biting.
The senior lawyer said this as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliates commence a two-day warning strike today to press the government to measure up on the distribution of palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal, repair and activation of local refineries, spiraling inflation and worsening economic conditions, among others.
Adegboruwa noted that people generally look up to labour to take on the government on many issues that affect them, given that most economic policies of the government bear a direct impact upon workers, especially those in the lower cadre.
In recent times, he said, many Nigerians have become disillusioned with constant declarations of the NLC in respect of strike actions that seem to lead to nowhere.
“On many occasions, a warning strike is issued and people are mobilized and threatened to stock their homes with foodstuffs as the strike may ground all activities across the land.
“These strikes never really come to pass, as most of the time on the eve of the strike, labour will call it off or postpone it or the government will obtain an order of court to prohibit it.
“There is therefore the need for labour to redeem itself before Nigerians to avoid these seeming dramas and theatrics,” Adegboruwa wrote in an article published in Nigerian Tribune today, September 5.
He noted that the purpose of strike actions must be properly defined to avoid abuse.
“Are strike actions meant to harass the government or impress the people? What is the purpose of strikes?” he queried.
“Strike actions should not be matters of industrial grandstanding, where labour leaders raise the same issues over again.
“When labour is to go on strike, the whole nation should be on guard and the strike should go beyond bread and butter issues. Sufficient mobilisation should have taken place as a means of educating the people on the purpose and gains of the proposed action,” Adegboruwa stated.
He said labour is entitled to go on strike on issues, such as fuel subsidy removal and constant upward review of electricity tariffs, which affect workers more than any other sector.
However, he advised organised labour against actions capable of being interpreted as squandering the goodwill of the people.
“For many reasons, labour unions are entitled to go on strike, if that is the only way to get the attention of the government on the issues at stake.
“Like I said, I am worried, in particular that labour seems to have taken strike actions to be a kind of carte blanche, to be deployed to address every issue.
“A warrior does not make the practice of shooting its best arrows first and when that misses the target, he is then left with weak and substandard arrows that deal no blow upon impact,” Adegboruwa said.
He also raised pertinent questions that must be answer by the organised labour and its leaders.
“I support labour and all its plans and actions to the hilt, this can never be in doubt at all, but we have come to the stage when we must begin to ask questions from labour. For instance, what is the effectiveness of its collaboration with civil society organisations?
“Why is it that these critical partners of labour are not encouraged to prosecute protests and strike actions if and when labour becomes handicapped? And having formed a political party through which it canvassed for votes openly, is there an issue of conflict of interests on the part of labour?
“We have never had a situation whereby the people ever rejected labour, whenever it calls for a strike action. On the other hand, what we have experienced is labour calling off its own strikes abruptly upon the intervention of the same executive arm of government with which labour has been dealing.
“It is either labour is ready for a strike or it is not, but to continue in this dilly dally fashion of declaring strike actions in the media everytime may prove to be a dangerous path for labour to thread,” he said.