Gladys Nweke
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Thursday that it decided to picket all MTN offices nationwide because of the unfriendly Labour practice of the company.
It said no amount of blackmail would deter them from continuing with the action.
In a statement signed by the vice-chairman of the picketing committee, Comrade Christain Igwe, the Congress said all its efforts and those brokered by the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association to address the issues of unfriendly Labour practices all failed as the company failed to return to the negotiating table.
Mr Christain in the statement said that MTN workers were not unionised and were subjected to casualisation in total violation of the Labour laws in the country.
He noted that Wednesday, July 11, marked the last day of the picketing of MTN offices nationwide by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
The vice chairman noted that MTN Nigeria since it commenced operations in Nigeria has been in clear violation of extant national and international labour laws, especially workers’ fundamental principles of rights at work.
It similarly indulges in other anti-labour practices such as casualisation for nearly all types of work, fixed- term contract work for Nigerian workers, worst forms of precarious work, etc”
It is on record that the Nigeria Labour Congress, on several occasions protested to the MTN and government about these unwholesome practices, he added.
“And in prosecuting this picket, our members have been peaceful and orderly.
We have not destroyed the property of MTN and we do not intend to do so as that is not our objective anyway.
“It is equally important to explain that Nigeria is the only country MTN refuses to allow workers to unionise because there is freedom of association,” he said
