Interference in union matters: Enough is enough — NLC, TUC warn Gov. el-Rufai

Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), and its sister organization, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), weekend, said their members have been pushed to the wall by the policies and actions of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, just as they warned that ‘enough is enough.’
The two labour bodies also directed Kaduna State government workers to converge on the state secretariat of the NLC for what they called ‘a super congress’ where they said a decision would be taken on a matter that concerns the continued interference of the state government on union matters.
Addressed a joint press conference, weekend, in Kaduna on the issue, President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Waaba, and his TUC counterpart, Comrade Shehu Ayuba said two unions were reacting to the issue of the Verification Forms given to workers with a clause on whether they wanted to belong to unions or not.
“The workers verification exercise carried out by Kaduna State government was an aberration. This is the first time such an exercise would be carried out without a representative of workers. We have also heard of many things he has been doing here that are not in the interest of workers. But, we cannot understand why he now wants to interfere in the affairs of labour unions.
“He tried breaking the ranks of workers when he was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, but we resisted him and he failed. One would have thought that he would have learnt his lessons. Yet, this is a man I respect as an intellectual.
“For the governor to produce a form and ask workers to indicate if they want to belong to the NLC, is a clear interference on union matters,” Wabba said.