Admin l Monday, December 11, 2017
LAGOS, Nigeria – The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has condemned failure by Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) to accede to a reasonable increment of 20% in salary and other emoluments by Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) and in the process engendering a nationwide strike.
In a statement, President, TUC, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama and Secretary, Comrade (Barr.) Musa-Lawal Ozigi, TUC said Congress is worried that this long overdue increment cum benefit which is clearly affordable within the industry and has infact already been awarded to the junior staff could now be allowed to degenerate into a nationwide strike, at this critical festive period when products of the industry would be in higher demand.
“Increasing the wages of the junior staff to the extent that they (junior staff) now prefer not to be promoted to management level for us is a deliberate attempt to spite our members and it further speaks volume of the injustice in the system.
“We are equally concerned about the posture of the representatives of the employers at the NJIC negotiations. It appears the NJIC was deliberately constituted to spite the senior staff.
“Any act to diminish the dignity of our members is unacceptable. The fact that as senior staff we choose “jaw- jaw” instead of “war war” does not mean we should be taken for granted. The position of the Executive Secretary of AFBTE is to say the least contra-indicative of an officer who wants peace in the industry and defies logic.
“We hate to say that it looks like we had a better deal in the past and we urge the current administration to take a cue. This will bring peace to the industry as we have employed over the years.
“The Congress urges the leadership of AFBTE to quickly review its stands on the increment requested by its senior staff and go ahead to pave way for the conclusion of the NJIC Agreement. Already some sectors of the economy are on strike and the experience has not been a pleasant one. Any attempt to allow the strike action to go on will collapse the fragile economy. A stitch in time saves nine”, TUC said.
