NO fewer than 50,000 workers lost their jobs in
the nation’s construction and furniture industry in
the last one year, the National Union of Civil
Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood
Workers, NUCEFWW, said, yesterday, in Ibadan,
Oyo State. President of the Union, Mr. Amechi Asugwuni,
announced this while addressing members at the
opening ceremony of the union’s 11th Education/
Industrial Relations conference, with the theme,
‘Organisational Changes and Challenges for Trade
Union Leaders.’ He lamented that the jobs losses were caused by
non-payment, delay in payment for certified
completed jobs, redundancies, among others. He said: “We demand that the Federal
Government should put in place definite
regulatory framework to revive the wood and
furniture industry. “The regulatory framework should be enacted
into law by the government with the political will
to implement the framework and accompanying
punitive measure for violators. “As a major stakeholder in the wood and furniture
industry, we urge the Federal Government to put
in place necessary machinery that will place
Nigeria on the same page with the rest of the
world by managing our climate so as not to suffer
the effects of climate change or global warming. “Government should also ensure that there is
adequate security at our forests and bushes to
prevent further deforestation. “Our position on contract and casual employment
is that it is explorative and has the tendency to
degrade jobs. “We are reiterating here today that we will
continue to resist casualisation and ensure fair,
sufficient compensation and good welfare for all
categories of our members through unrestricted
legitimate rights to union activities, collective
bargaining and other statutory provisions for interactions, engagements and resolution of
issues with other social partners entrenched in
the industry. “Another issue plaguing our industry is expatriate
quota abuse , non-compliant with the Nigeria
Content Development Act and refusal by some
employers, especially contracting firms from
China, Korea and other parts of Asia to respect our
labour laws and rights to freedom of association and assembly as provided for in the Nigerian
constitution. “We request that the government, especially the
Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, and the
Ministry of Labour and Productivity, should step
up efforts to check influx of the so-called
expatriates into Nigeria. We have resolved to take
whatever labour actions legally deemed appropriate to end this and other anti-labour
practices in our industry,” he said.
the nation’s construction and furniture industry in
the last one year, the National Union of Civil
Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood
Workers, NUCEFWW, said, yesterday, in Ibadan,
Oyo State. President of the Union, Mr. Amechi Asugwuni,
announced this while addressing members at the
opening ceremony of the union’s 11th Education/
Industrial Relations conference, with the theme,
‘Organisational Changes and Challenges for Trade
Union Leaders.’ He lamented that the jobs losses were caused by
non-payment, delay in payment for certified
completed jobs, redundancies, among others. He said: “We demand that the Federal
Government should put in place definite
regulatory framework to revive the wood and
furniture industry. “The regulatory framework should be enacted
into law by the government with the political will
to implement the framework and accompanying
punitive measure for violators. “As a major stakeholder in the wood and furniture
industry, we urge the Federal Government to put
in place necessary machinery that will place
Nigeria on the same page with the rest of the
world by managing our climate so as not to suffer
the effects of climate change or global warming. “Government should also ensure that there is
adequate security at our forests and bushes to
prevent further deforestation. “Our position on contract and casual employment
is that it is explorative and has the tendency to
degrade jobs. “We are reiterating here today that we will
continue to resist casualisation and ensure fair,
sufficient compensation and good welfare for all
categories of our members through unrestricted
legitimate rights to union activities, collective
bargaining and other statutory provisions for interactions, engagements and resolution of
issues with other social partners entrenched in
the industry. “Another issue plaguing our industry is expatriate
quota abuse , non-compliant with the Nigeria
Content Development Act and refusal by some
employers, especially contracting firms from
China, Korea and other parts of Asia to respect our
labour laws and rights to freedom of association and assembly as provided for in the Nigerian
constitution. “We request that the government, especially the
Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, and the
Ministry of Labour and Productivity, should step
up efforts to check influx of the so-called
expatriates into Nigeria. We have resolved to take
whatever labour actions legally deemed appropriate to end this and other anti-labour
practices in our industry,” he said.
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