The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, on Monday picketed Abuja Continental Hotel over alleged violations of workers’ rights, including the denial of unionization and collective bargaining.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the hotel’s entrance was barricaded for about two hours during the protest, preventing vehicles from entering or leaving the premises.
The workers carried placards with various inscriptions, including, “Union membership is by force to belong to union” and “TUC does not speak for us. We do not authorize TUC representatives.”
Speaking to newsmen during the picketing, TUC Secretary-General, Nuhu Toro, said the union had exhausted efforts to resolve the dispute through dialogue after writing the hotel management on Aug. 4.
Toro alleged that workers at the hotel were being treated unfairly and that their fundamental labour rights were being violated.
“The issue is very clear. Workers are being treated as slaves at Abuja Continental Hotel. Their rights are being violated,” he said.
According to him, the hotel management responded that ongoing renovation work would prevent discussions on the matter until the end of November.
Toro described the response as unacceptable, arguing that workers’ rights issues should not be delayed because of renovation activities.
He said TUC was demanding that workers be allowed to freely join unions and participate in collective bargaining, as guaranteed under Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution.
Toro said the union had shared relevant correspondence with the police and Department of State Services, DSS, while maintaining that TUC remained open to dialogue with the hotel management.
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“The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, under the leadership of Comrade Engineer Osifo, is ready to dialogue. If they want to dialogue now, we are ready,” he said. He added that the picketing would continue until Friday, when the union would review the situation.
Toro stressed that the union remained committed to resolving the dispute peacefully while ensuring that workers’ concerns were addressed.
Also speaking, Mr. William Adegbe, National President of the Hotel and Personal Services Senior Staff Association, HAFSA, alleged that similar disputes over unionization had occurred at the Continental Hotel in Lagos.
“Continental Hotel has a history. The same thing happening here in Abuja is happening at the Continental Hotel in Lagos,” Adegbe said.
He alleged that workers had been denied unionisation and access to proper conditions of service following the takeover of the hotel by new investors after the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, HAFSA and the National Union of Professional Service Industries (NUPSI) had written several letters requesting discussions with the management before escalating the matter to TUC.
“Our letters and pleas for a meeting with the management have been ignored. That was why we escalated the matter to the labour centre, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria,” he said.
Adegbe also alleged that some workers were intimidated during the picketing and said HAFSA and NUPSI were jointly handling the dispute.
Meanwhile, Mr. Samuel Esiakpoyere, spokesman for the workers’ representatives at Abuja Continental Hotel, said the employees were not aware of the alleged correspondence between the unions and the hotel management.
“To the best of our knowledge, this matter affects us. If there are correspondences, how many are there? We have not seen anything,” Esiakpoyere said.
He maintained that the hotel management was making efforts to improve workers’ welfare and urged the unions not to disrupt the hotel’s operations.
“The management is doing its best, and we know that whatever we are going through is going to get a lot better. We do not want the union to kill us while trying to help us,” he said.
Esiakpoyere called on the union to pursue its demands without jeopardizing workers’ livelihoods or disrupting the hotel’s operations. “We are saying no to unionization,” he said.
The dispute has therefore placed TUC’s demand for workers’ unionization and collective bargaining rights against the position of some hotel workers who say they do not support the union’s intervention.
NAN
