AKOR SYLVESTER, Abuja
Worried by what it described as terrible condition of work and inhuman treatment meted to Nigerian workers working with some foreign companies in the country, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Wednesday grounded the activities of Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group Corporation, at the new headquarters of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) located at Lugbe in Abuja.
Among others, the congress was protesting what it termed as dehumanizing conditions of work that the Nigerian workers were subjected to by the Chinese company.
The mission of the labour union also was to liberate the workers at the construction company from continued enslavement.
The action which started in the morning on Wednesday, saw workers gathered at the NLC headquarters in Labour House to mobilize for the picketing of the Chinese construction company handling the construction of the ECOWAS new office complex.
Arriving at the point of the shutting down, there was initial resistance as the gate of the company was locked against the protesting NLC leadership and its picketing team but was later opened by the management .
Even as the management of the construction company did not speak on the protest or respond to the allegations raised by labour, the activities of the company were paralysed with the presence of NLC.
The Chinese government had undertaken to build the new ECOWAS Secretariat as part of aid package to the community.
Speaking during the protest, the General Secretary of NLC, Emma Ugbuaja lamented the alleged inhuman treatment meted to the workers at the construction site.
He hinted that the congress responded to complaint by the Federal Capital Teritory (FCT) chapter of the construction workers union over bad working conductions at the construction site.
Ugbuaja said the Chinese company engaged the workers on adhoc basis with no conditions of service attached, nor any welfare or medical services in place.
The NLC general secretary expressed worry that, due to the deplorable work conditions at the place, one of the workers, a driver, Mr. Augustine died out of neglect and lack of timely medical attention.
Ugboaja said that while the picketing action continued, the leadership of labour hopes to engage the management of Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group Corporation in discussion to address the concerns of their workers.
Concerning the demise of the driver, Ugboaja said: “Mrs. Ruth Augustine migrated with her husband and family to Abuja to come and earn a living. Now the man’s effort to help build ECOWAS Secretariat has ended up in six feet down leaving his poor widow to face the vagaries of life. No pension, no gratuity, no food, no water and no explanation, where will help come from?
“Every day we plead with government to provide minimal social security floor to no avail. That is the challenge we have. This challenge is real,” he said.
Ugboaja said that contrary to critics who accuse labour of crying wolves where there are none, the widow of the deceased was present to tell the story of the urgly experience of her late husband.
Narrating her ordeal, Ruth said her husband secured a job last year as a driver with the Chinese company, but that the condition he was given does not allow him to come home after work.
“He will work from Monday till Sunday. I asked him whether they give him bonus for the overtime and extra work he was doing. He said no. My husband will work from morning till night with no food and he will not be allowed to come home. Even when he comes home, he will not stay up to an hour before hurting back the site, the woman said that after the husband returned to work in January after Christmas festivities, he stayed back for two months at the company without visiting home. However, Mrs. Augustine said she became worried and called him. “From the conversation, I knew he was very sick”.
According to her, the company failed to take her husband to the hospital and still did not allow him to go home for treatment.
“When they eventually permitted him to go home, his situation has worsened. He was having swollen neck and looking highly malnourished”, she said.
The woman said she took her husband to the Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital in Abuja and later to the National Hospital where he passed on.
In all these ordeal, Mrs Augustine said the Chinese company failed to heed her plea for assistance. Rather, she said that what she got was a termination letter for her husband.
