Minister, stakeholders meet on ‘disguised prostitution’ in banking industry

Soji-Eze Fagbemi

Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Lawal,
speaking at a meeting with bank executives
and labour leaders on labour rights abuse
in the country in Abuja recently.

the government of the day will no longer tolerate immorality, gross abuse of rights in workplace, disregard for dignity of labour and decent work in this sector. It has been brought to our notice at the ministry by the trade union leadership, while we have also noticed that the popular trend in your sector is to recruit young girls and turn them to prostitutes under the guise of marketing.

“This and other labour rights violations, which are widespread in the sector, will no longer be tolerated.” These were the words of the Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Lawal, to set the tone of a stakeholders meeting he held with chief executives in the banking sector on August 13, 2007 in Abuja. This reveals the gross abuse of labour rights which are prevalent, not only in the banking sector in the country but also the hotel industry.

The meeting, like the many others, was held on the evils being perpetrated in the banking sector and it was specifically to flag off the sensitisation of the banking industry by the minister on all the contending issues. To underscore the importance of the issue involved, the meeting, held at the head office of the Unity Bank, Abuja, was attended by the minister, Dr. Lawal, officials of the ministry, representatives of National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE), Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and managers of banks.

According to the General Secretary of NUBIFIE, Mr. Elijah Ola, “actually, if you see the way banking operation is being carried out these days and the determination of various managers to outplay one another, there is nothing they can’t do. “Most of them go out of professional ethics into doing what is unorthodox but one thing we have to establish is that the people who are doing this job for the banks are coerced. If you asked them they would deny it; but that is the truth.

“There are some targeted customers that every bank would want to woo. And if you assign that assignment to a beautiful lady to go and meet a particular man, a lady with a mini-skirt and a dress that exposes her breast, what is the motive, why not man being sent? “There are some ulterior motives for doing that and our men in this society cannot just resist that. The problem is that these ladies who do these jobs are coerced and cannot come out and confess that this is what they are using me for.

“Even at my own level, they will say come and bank with us, and we know what transpired. Nobody will tell you that I am a prostitute. All they will tell you is that I am doing my job. “For instance, when they are given appointments to meet at restaurant and when they go, it turned out to be another relationship. This is what has been happening. But the question is why not send a handsome gentleman to go and meet a big billionaire man and a pretty fine lady to go and meet a beautiful lady billionaire to woo her as the customer. Why must the ladies be the target as principal marketers that we have in the banking industry?”

Ola expressed regret that “these girls are employed, given a target they cannot meet unless they engage in all these sort of immorality, night outings and what is now termed disguised prostitution. Inability to meat this target, the girls, who are recruited in droves, will lose their jobs.” According to the Head of International Desk of the NLC, Mr. Olaitan Oyerinde, the NLC had consistently fought the “issue of disguised prostitution in the sector.”

Though, he emphasised that there was no clear cut International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention covering this area, “it becomes a new challenge not only to Nigeria trade union movement but the ILO and the entire world of work.” Oyerinde said “these girls are deceived with hope of having a professional headway and good job in the most reliable and vibrant sector of the economy while being recruited but are later subjected to various forms of threats, intimidations and abuse of their rights and decency.

“Voluntary or involuntarily, some of them who are desperate to keep their jobs engage in prostitution. It is also revealed that some of the marketing and public affairs departments of some banks identified certain money bags in the society and specifically detailed pretty young ladies to work on them and ensure that the millionaires patronise their banks.” However, Oyerinde stated that the trend, which is new in Nigeria and the world of work, negates the concept of ILO decent work, especially the issue of gender equality. To him, and as supported by the NUBIFIE General Secretary, Ola, “it is a gross abuse of Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention 111of 1958 and Recommendation 111.

The ILO Convention 111 states: “Any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation.”

Specifically, Comrades Olusegun Ola and Oyerinde said the use of girls and young ladies for this indecent job contravenes this convention as it amounts to discrimination against them. "But the question is, why not sending a handsome gentleman to go and meet a big billionaire man and a pretty fine lady to go and meet a beautiful lady billionaire to woo her as the customer. Why must the ladies be the target as principal marketers that we have in the Banking industry?" Olusegun Ola queried.

Recommendation 111 of the ILO also "indicates the fields in which all persons should, without discrimination, enjoy equality of opportunity and treatment, which include security of tenure of employment, remuneration for work of equal value and conditions of work (such as hours of work, occupational safety and health and social security)."

Besides the contemporary days banking and hotel industries in Nigeria is also awash with casual workers where about 75 per cent of their workers are casual. Weekends banking is also the order of the day, with long hours of work prevailing in the sector. Worst still, the workers in the sector are not allowed to form or belong to trade unions. They are intimidated and threatened to run away from belonging to unions. In fact, any of them who openly identified with trade unionism are sacked.

The NUBIFIE General Secretary said: "The issues involved are very clear enough. It's the desire of the worker's and their rights to belong to a Union, because they believe if they belong to a Union, their fundamentals human rights that have been abused by the banks' management would be checkmated by the industrial unions. So that is the major basis why they have a field day doing anything to their workers, because there is no check and balances.

"There is no internal democracy in the work place, because the workers are not allowed to participate in the Union activities that will enlighten them and broaden them as to what their rights are, in the work place. As a young graduate who is looking for work, if you secure anyone, you want to maintain it even not minding the abuse associated with it. But with Union, all these things will be corrected. That is the basis of our struggle.

"The Banking industry management takes undue advantage of lack of this arrangement to dehumanize workers through their spurious policies. Not even in prostitution alone, abuse of work hours as stipulated by the international convention. A lot of abuses are on but thank God that there is an improvement. We started the struggle in 2004 and where we are today, I think we have made some progress."

The struggle and progress Comrade Olusegun Ola mentioned cumulated in the efforts by the Nigerian Government to sensitize the banks chief executives. Several meetings and workshop were held which involved all the stakeholders including the trade unions leaders. The meetings came up with several communiqués against these various abuses in the sector and abuse of workers' rights.

At one of the meetings held on September 19, 2007, Labour Minster, Dr. Lawal stressed the need for regular social dialogue and consultation to promote sound industrial relations necessary for their efficiency and profitability." The Minister said: "As I have mentioned when I flagged off the sensitization in Abuja last month, one of the major problems and challenges we have is that of non-recognition and refusal of the employers to accord unions in the banking sector, the right to organize their members who are employees in the banks"

DR. Lawal added: "As we all know, this refusal constitutes a violation of the International Labour Convention No. 87 and 98 both of which provides for Freedom of Association, the Right to Organize and the Right to Collective Bargaining. This also is an infringement of the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and the Trade Union Act CAP 433, laws of the Federation of Nigeria."

Convention 87 on Freedom of Association states that "workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, have the right to establish, and subject to the rules of the organization concerned, to join organizations of their own choosing for furthering and defending their interests without previous authorization." Convention 98 also says, "workers must be protected against acts of anti-union discrimination, and particularly acts calculated to: make their employment subject to condition that they shall not join a union or shall relinquish membership thereof;"

In supporting the ILO Convention on freedom of association, Section 40 of Nigeria Constitution said: "Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests."

The Labour Minster told the managements of banks that are yet to allow their workers unionized to do so. He warned: "I will use this medium to strongly advise chief executives in the banking, insurance and hotel industry to commence discussions with the unions in order to put in place, union structures to enhance union-management relations and promote decent employment in the sector.

"This advice is predicated on Section 24 of the Trade Union's Act, CAP 437, 1990 which affirms that unionization of all work-places, including the commercial banks and insurance companies is inevitable and incontestable."

These conventions and laws Dr. Lawal said "entails upholding the right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their own choice and to do so without prior authorization, the free functioning of those organizations and the right to elect their representatives without undue interference. Others include the right of organizations to organize their internal administration, protection against anti-union discrimination, protection against anti-union discrimination, protection against acts of interference and the right to bargain collectively."

He warned: "Violations of Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), which guarantees Freedom of Association of all Nigeria, will not be taken lightly. Furthermore, it is the policy of government to ensure that our extant laws and ILO Conventions 87 and 98 which deal with Freedom of Association and Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining are respected and observed by all parties to industrial relations in the country."

The NLC on March 2, 2004 threatened to picket some banks for the various violations. The former NLC President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, condemned the violation of workers rights, and the use of young ladies as "disguised prostitutes." The Federal Government then summoned the NLC under the leadership of Comrade Oshiomhole and managements of these banks to emergency meeting where the issues were resolved.

The former Permanent Secretary in the Labour Ministry brokered the meeting where an agreement was reached that: · Banks without unions hereby recognize NUBIFIE and ASSBIFI as appropriate unions to organize employees in the Banking industries
· In the light of the above, banks without unions hereby accept to individually write to NUBIFIE and ASSBIFI to formally convey this recognition within seven days from the date of this agreement

· As a follow up, management of the banks resolve to work with the unions (NUBIFIE and ASSBIFI) in putting in place the in-house union structures in the respective banks in the spirit and letter of this agreement. · It was agree that a joint committee comprising the Federal Ministry of Labour, the NLC, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) would work together to monitor successful implementation of this agreement.

Based on this agreement, the planned picketing of banks by the NLC was suspended. This agreement was signed by all representatives of the stakeholders, including the government. However, as confirmed by NUBIFIE General Secretary, the banks continue in their deceptive attitude and will threaten the workers to desist from participating in unions activities.

According to him: "The other human rights abuses are, one, denial of the workers to associate. If you go to them and discuss it they will say no, we are not against them joining the union but as you are leaving, they will turn back to tell them that if you join the Union you are gone. Because they know that the only tool that can be used by working class people in the banking industry is their coming together. It is just like the adage that says united we stand and divided they would be able to confront the management as a one entity. But as it is now, they are divided and the management or the owner of the banks is the prosecutor, is the accuser and the judge. They can come out at anytime and say your services are not required."

This development led to meetings of March 14, 2006 at the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) office and that of August 13, 2007, where other agreements were arrived at and signed.

The meeting held on March 14, 2006, the stakeholders observed with regret that the agreement reached on March 2, 2004 was not implemented by the employers in the sector. The meeting agreed that the banks should henceforth comply with the recognition of the NUBIFIE and ASSBIFI, and work along with the unions to put in place in-house unions within 30 days.

The agreement set up a Monitoring Committee comprising of NUBIFIE, ASSBIFI, NECA, NLC, TUC, CBN, CIBN and the Federal Ministry of Labour within 14 days. It went ahead to empower the Committee to recommend appropriate sanctions against any erring employer to the Minister of Labour or the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In fact, some workers were sacked for belonging to unions and part of the agreement at the meeting was that the banks that have carried out disengagement/retrenchment of workers without due process should invite the unions within 14 days to negotiate severance benefits of employers affected in accordance with the extant labour laws and the industrial-wide collective agreement. Same was re-emphasized in the agreement reached after the sensitization of the banking industries by the Labour Minister.

Based on these efforts, the union leaders in the country admit that their struggle over the years is now yielding fruitful result but there are still many hurdles to cross before achieving the end result.

Summarizing, this in a simple language, NUBIFIE General Secretary, Comrade Olusegun Oni said: "In 2006, March 14, we called another meeting of the same stakeholders and the agreement was reached to allow the unions exist. But until recently when we began mounting serious pressure and collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, particular the present Honourable Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Lawal. We thank him and his staff very enormously for their support, as well as NLC, TUC.

"With all the support of all these stakeholders, another stage in unionization of worker was laid on August 13, 2007 at the Head Office of Unity Bank Abuja, which was officially flagged-off by the Minister himself.

"After the flag off, delegates from NLC, TUC, and the Ministry of Labour visited all the consolidated 25 Banks and signed agreement with them and we are making some progress. Banks like Zenith, Union Banks, BankPHB, Skye Bank, ECOBank and some others have been showing positive response and playing supportive roles. However, I want to say with all emphasis that the situation is no longer the way it used to be but we still have a long way to go to ensure that the rights of workers are not violated in the sectors.

"However, we are also using this opportunity to tell all other banks that have not shown cooperation to do so before the alarm will blow. We give them until the first quarter of this year after which all those against the union in their organization will be picketed, massively picketed."

LABOUR PHOTO The NLC President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, speaking on the abuse of labour rights in banking sector in Nigeria.

LABOUR PHOTO1 Nigeria Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Lawal, speaking in one of the meetings with the chief executives of the banking sector and the labour leaders, on the problem of labour rights abuses in the country.

Tit-Bits

TUC threatens showdown with Lagos Sheraton Hotel

By Komolafe Rasheed

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has vowed to stop what it described as the violation of labour laws by the management of Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos. The TUC, in a statement by its General Secretary, Chief John Kolawole, said it was against this background that it was warning the management of the hotel to retrace its steps and stop interfering in the running of the union in that branch. According to the congress, the action was a disregard for the labour laws of the country and disrespect

for government officials assigned to administer these laws. The congress stated that the management had refused to turn up for meetings with labour officials. “The TUC has no choice but to do battle with the Sheraton management if they do not change tactics and adhere strictly to labour laws of Nigeria. “We are, therefore, poised to mobilise its members against the Sheraton management as nobody is above the law.

The TUC demanded from the Sheraton hotel management, the immediate reversal of dissolution of the branch executives of HAPPSA in Lagos Sheraton Hotel and commencement of the check off dues as requested by the law. The congress also demanded for a written assurance that the management would no longer attempt to strangulate the activities of HAPPSA in the hotel or any other union. “The TUC will not hesitate to take all possible actions within the ambit of the law to ensure the actualisation of the demands,” it said.

NUT appeals to Adamawa govt over teachers’ strike

Soji-Eze Fagbemi, Abuja

President-General, Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria, Mr. Onikolease Irabor, has said that the concessioning of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) by past administrations only succeeded in deforming maritime sector .

The NPA was concessioned by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) and its various terminals were handed over to new managers in April 2006. Irabor spoke with journalists recently in Lagos against the background of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC’s) 30th anniversary that since the reforms, things had gone from bad to worse in the sector.

“Before the concessioning, the NPA had a workforce of over 13,000 but today, we have less than 5,000. The dock workers that had about 14,000 today has less than 5,000,” he said. Irabor said it was regrettable that the promises made by the concessionaires were yet to be fulfilled. “One of the reasons for the concessioning was that the equipment were obsolete and the new managers promised to provide sophisticated ones. But till date, there has not been any improvement at the organisation,” he said.

According to him, the concessionaires should be held responsible for the declining growth in the sector as they have failed to meet the Federal Government’s expectations. “What we negotiated with the government and what is on ground are quite different. Till date, there is no agreement on workers’ welfare and what they should earn,” Irabor said.

He maintained that the new managers at the ports had refused to negotiate the conditions of service for workers with the union, stressing that they believed in slave labour and had no regard for unionism.

Irabor said both the people and the nation were yet to benefit from the reforms. He called on the government to continue to monitor the activities of the maritime sector because of its security aspects, adding that such an essential sector should not be left solely in private hands.