Union sends SOS to minister over striking workers

By ANDREW OJIEZEL

RESOLVED to nurture sustainable employment relationship through cordial industrial harmony and rancour, the organised labour in construction industry, under the umbrella of National Union of Civil Engineering Construction Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) has appealed to the Minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige to intervene in the logjam situation between employers and workers in the industry.

The President General of the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), Comrade Amaechi Asugwuni who made the plea, said he wondered how employers of labour in the industry could be shying away from having dialogue with the employees.

“In other sectors, it is the employers that always summon for meeting with staff for resolution of any crisis that might rock the industry. But in construction industry, employees have been calling for meeting to enable both side have review of condition of service which is done every two years. “

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Expressing the displeasure of the union over the lackadaisical attitude of employers, Asugwuni noted that all efforts to make National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) bring succour to the workers through proper intervention have proved abortive, “our members are being underpaid by their employers, yet, they don’t want to review, as a result, we have to take the battle of our destiny into our hands through downing of tools by over 350 companies that are in the industry. We have exhausted all possible avenues for dialogue.”

In the same vein, the NUCECFWW helmsman decried the recurrent building collapses within the country, especially in Lagos State, saying “we are appealing to government and individuals to bring sanity into the construction of buildings, noting that contractors of collapse buildings are not members of the union.