Trade unions draw more support than opposition parties

President Olusegun Obasanjo, who enjoys an overwhelming majority in the federal parliament and controls 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states, may have chosen a time when the opposition parties have grown feeble to implement tough economic reforms. But he failed to reckon with the growing strength of the trade unions. The trade union movement has tackled Obasanjo head-on over rising fuel prices and has repeatedly brought the country to a standstill through general strikes to make its point. Political analysts said Obasanjo’s seemingly impregnable hold on power had been shaken and the trade union challenge to his authority had triggered a political struggle whose outcome was difficult to predict. The spearhead of the new opposition movement is Adams Oshiomhole, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), an umbrella body for 29 blue-collar unions. "It is only the NLC that has forced Obasanjo to reverse a policy decision despite his firm control of the executive and legislative arms of government," Ike Onyekwere, political analyst and newspaper commentator, told IRIN. "By opening a chink in the President's armour NLC may have provoked a bitter political fight that may further weaken the government or leave labour utterly vanquished," he added. Ironically, NLC was created by Obasanjo during the late 1970's when he ruled Nigeria as a military head of state. He set up the organisation to counter communist infiltration of the country's trade union movement by enforcing its centralisation under one umbrella body. But during the five years since Obasanjo returned to power as an elected president, the NLC has called six general strikes, each time in response to increases in fuel prices. On three occasions Obasanjo has been compelled to roll back the prices, only to hike them again at the next opportune moment. Opposition parties fail to inspire mass demonstrations But the only time the opposition parties in parliament tried to call street protests to protest at alleged election rigging of the 2003 general elections by Obasanjo's ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), very few people turned out. The May 2004 demonstrations fell well short of the “two million march” that had been trumpeted by the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), the main opposition party in parliament, and its allies. Those who did attempt to march were easily dispersed by the police, and the opposition parties have called no further street demonstrations since then. But last week the NLC, backed by opposition parties, including the ANPP and a coalition of civic groups, called a four-day warning strike to protest at last month’s 25 percent hike in fuel prices. They succeeded in shutting down government offices, schools, banks and most businesses in Lagos and several other big cities, although the strike had less impact in the federal capital Abuja. The trade unions have now given the government a two-week period to reverse the increases, failing which an indefinite strike looms. Low prices but no fuel Obasanjo insists his reforms are necessary to eliminate domestic fuel subsidies amounting to over US$2 billion a year, saying these drain funds which could otherwise be spent on health and education and encourage smuggling of petrol and diesel to neighbouring countries where fuel is more expensive. He has also pointed out that artificially low fuel prices have left Nigeria' four state-owned refineries, which badly need new investment from the private sector, operating at only a fraction of their theoretical capacity. The result is that Africa’s leading oil producer is heavily dependent on fuel imports and suffers frequent shortages. However, the unions argue that the knock-on impact on living costs from every increase in fuel prices imposes further punishment on Nigeria's impoverished population. This view commands strong popular support since 70 percent of Nigeria's 126 million people scrape by on less than one US dollar a day. They can ill afford increases in bus fares and the price of gas or parafin which many people use to cook food. In 2000 Obasanjo yielded to pressure by the unions to increase Nigeria’s minimum wage from 3,000 naira (US $22)to 6,500 (US $48) naira a month. But the NLC says that whatever gains workers made from that rise in wages were eroded by inflation generated by subsequent increases in fuel prices. NLC seeks lower prices instead of higher pay Oshiomhole has since resolved to campaign against deregulation of the fuel prices instead of asking for higher wages. “The nation and the people must matter in Mr President’s esteem in this matter, rather than any notion of infallibility and messiahnism,” he said, throwing a barb at Obasanjo’s insistence there was no alternative to the bitter pill of price deregulation. When the NLC called its first strikes in 2000, Obasanjo’s responded with barely concealed indifference. But as the unions continued to challenge him over the fuel price issue, the president has expressed his anger and introduced new legislation aimed at neutralizing the NLC. “The NLC has constituted itself into an opposition political movement,” a visibly angry Obasanjo said in a televised broadcast to the nation in October 2003. He went on to accuse the trade unions of pursuing the “avowed objective of bringing down a democratically elected government.” At that point many people concluded that a battle line had been drawn. New legislation to curb union power In April this year Obasanjo presented a bill to parliament that aimed to curb the NLC's powers by amending the Trade Union Act of 1990. New provisions sought include deregistration of the NLC and the outlawing of strikes in the aviation, health and education sectors. Strikes in other sectors were to be limited strictly to wage disputes and could only be called by unions representing workers in the activities concerned. Under the provisions of the bill, the registration of new, umbrella union organisations would only be permitted by the labour minister if he were satisfied that these groups posed no threat to national security. The minister himself was left to set the criteria for making such a judgement. The bill has already passed pretty much unscathed through the Senate. It only removed the clauses that would have outlawed strikes in certain key sectors of national life. It now awaits passage through the House of Representatives before the president can sign it into law. Since the controversial bill was published, Obasanjo has argued in various forums that the intention behind it is to further democratize trade union activities and afford workers greater freedom of choice. Minister of Labour Hassan Lawal pushed the same line of argument on Monday while meeting members of a House of Representatives committee that is considering the legislation. “What the government has set out to achieve is to kill monopoly and not (kill) the Nigeria Labour Congress,” said Lawal. He added that the new bill “will enhance freedom of association and the choice to belong to any union as a fundamental right.” Obviously none of the new unions that will emerge from the death of the NLC is expected by the government to resemble the Nigeria's existing trade union movement. As presently constituted, the NLC has tens of millions of members, covering blue-collar workers in the oil, banking, aviation, shipping, road transport and manufacturing industries as well as public sector workers. These include civil servants, teachers and hospital workers in federal, state and local government employment. The nearest body in size to the NLC is the white-collar Trade Union Congress. This groups senior staff in all the sectors from which the numerically larger NLC draws its membership. The textile worker who went to university Union leaders have alleged that the real motive behind the new bill is to emasculate the NLC and other trade unions that have consistently opposed government policies on the grounds that they are inimical to the interests of workers. “Current talk of deregistering the NLC is little more than an act of vindictiveness because the government simply feels that our trade union organisation is getting too strong,” said Oshiomhole. “They believe that the existence of several federations will weaken the voice of protest,” he added. The diminutive stature of Oshiomhole - who worked in a textile factory before studying economics and industrial relations at Ruskin College at Oxford in the UK - often belies the enormous influence he wields at the helm of NLC. A very persuasive speaker, he first came to public notice as a critic of structural adjustment programmes imposed on Nigeria by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the mid-1980s when he was a deputy president of the NLC. Under a succession of military regimes Oshiomhole was repeatedly arrested and followed around by the secret police. Under Sani Abacha's repressive regime, Oshiomhole was even banned from standing as NLC president. He was finally elected leader of the trade union movement in 1999, a year after Abacha died in office. Oshiomhole has since become popular as a champion of workers' rights. But Oshiomhole may become the last president of the NLC if the trade union bill now before the legislature becomes law. Among his many supporters is the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), based in Brussels, Belgium. This global body has urged Obasanjo to suspend his plans to amend the trade union law saying the new bill would impose measures that fall short of the standards stipulated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). “The legislative changes being contemplated are against international labour standards and will certainly make the Nigerian government censurable before the entire committee of global institutions with a mandate to maintain labour and human rights standards,” said Guy Ryder, secretary-general of ICFTU, in a 10 August 2004 letter to Obasanjo. In the meantime, opposition political parties and civil society groups unhappy with Obasanjo’s economic policies appear content to follow the leadership provided by the NLC. Next week the coalition ranged in opposition to the recent fuel price increases plan to meet to decide when to call the next general strike if Obasanjo fails to reverse the latest round of price rises. “If we, the opposition political parties, had the structural strength like the NLC, we would have called the strike on our own to express our dissent to what is happening in the country,” said Chekwas Okorie, chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance Party, which came third in 2003 presidential elections. “But thank God the NLC is giving us the needed leadership,” he added.