Reps To End Casualisation Of Workers
2 min read
by Our Correspondent
ABUJA: Nigerian House of Representatives may soon end the casualisation policy of some employers of labour as it condemned the degrading treatment meted out to employees in the country.
The House perturbed by revelations, mandated the Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity to ensure compliance.
It urged the Federal Government to put mechanism and policies in place to ensure that employers of labour conform to internationally acceptable standards of employment.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep Tajudeen Adefisoye (APC-Ondo) on the floor of the House on Tuesday, June 8th, in Abuja.
Adefisoye, while moving the motion said that there was need to curb the scourge of casualization of employment in Nigeria.
He noted that casualisation of workers had assumed a worrisome dimension in private and public sectors with employers capitalising on the high level of unemployment to subject workers to servitude.
The lawmaker added that some of these works were done under deplorable working conditions, adding that statistics from the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) indicated that many workers were on casual employment.
The list of such defaulting employers include: oil and gas, Mining, Tele-communications, Steel, Insurance and Banking Industries.
Adefisoye stated that section 7(1) of the Labour Act, 2004 provides that no worker should be engaged on probation or temporary employment for more than three months.
The Rep member called on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other Non- Governmental Organisations and the Federal Government to develop the political will to enforce compliance with decent and acceptable working environment in Nigeria.
The House of Representatives member expressed concerns about reported cases of workers being employed for several years as casual workers or contract staff without being regularised and the gory details of their treatment by foreign firms.
Adefisoye said that the phenomenon was mostly associated with Indian, Chinese and Lebanese firms, whose management personnel allegedly often physically assault and restrict the movement of their workers thereby exposing them to various industrial hazards
According to him, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) protocol provides for the transition of employees from temporary to permanent employment within three to twelve months of their contract.
