BY ABADOM LAWRENCE AMECHI
HIS EXCELLENCY, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, can do anything to ensure that he wins re-election except pay a living wage to workers or be afraid of labour’s threat of a strike. In warfare and politics, no one fears an enemy he or she can easily conquer. The labour movement has been reduced to a toothless bull dog by the APC since the days of the late Muhammadu Buhari. It took the concerted efforts of Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar and Comrade Ayuba Wabba to achieve that. Under Buhari, some people believed that the NLC was the military wing of the APC.
One is surprised that a labour movement that stood up for Nigerians against military dictatorships and contributed immensely to Nigeria’s decolonisation struggle can no longer bark in a democratic regime led by self-proclaimed progressives.
When labour becomes an appendage of government, workers lose their voice, and the struggle for their welfare becomes a casualty of political compromise. A labour movement that dances to the tune of the political establishment cannot effectively fight for the people whose interests it is supposed to protect.
A movement that never feared colonial masters or military rulers is now utterly afraid of politicians who parade themselves as progressives. The same labour movement that once stood in the vanguard of the struggle for freedom and justice now appears to have lost its voice in the face of political intimidation. What a tragic irony! These are indeed very interesting times.
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Labour is supposed to provide the ideological leadership necessary to redeem the working masses from the stranglehold of bourgeois elements seeking to enslave us all over again. Its role is to challenge oppressive power structures, defend the interests of the working class, and lead the struggle for a more just and equitable society — not to hobnob with ruinous political leaders.
Unfortunately, the labour movement appears to have abandoned its ideological convictions for diplomacy. I honestly do not know where it learnt this brand of diplomacy, especially when the nation needs its courage and resistance the most.
The sad reality is that many of our labour leaders appear more interested in pursuing political ambitions than in advancing the interests of workers and the masses. They seem to view the labour movement not as a platform for national redemption, but as a convenient springboard into partisan politics.
When labour leaders become more interested in political power than in the liberation of the working class, who will lead the struggle for the emancipation of the masses
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Considering the enormous work President Tinubu has done in political bullying and mobilisation towards 2027, victory is almost certain, even if he decides to ignore workers. Before he was sworn in in 2023, he already knew the formula he would use in 2027. As of today, he has conquered the religious sector, and most religious leaders now speak from both sides of their mouths. The traditional institutions are on his side, to the extent that one of them from Western Nigeria was warning other aspirants not to come near his palace, something we have never heard of before. The entertainment sector is not left out; ethnic movements, the labour movement, and so many other groups are also with him.
Nearly all groups are on his side. I strongly doubt that there is anyone within the labour movement who is not on the side of the President. If there are people like that, they are probably just a handful of die-hard Marxist elements within the labour movement, and their numbers have dwindled over time. The state chapters of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), in my view, have long abandoned their traditional role as defenders of workers’ interests in favour of political loyalty to their respective state governors. They are labour leaders by day and APC loyalists by night!
When labour becomes an appendage of government, workers lose their voice, and the struggle for their welfare becomes a casualty of political compromise. A labour movement that dances to the tune of the political establishment cannot effectively fight for the people whose interests it is supposed to protect.
In the past, labour used to fight for everything: against bad governance, corruption, poor workers’ welfare, human rights abuses, and all forms of abuse. Since the NLC reduced itself to a mere negotiating body, its capacity to stand up for the people died. It is not enough to threaten the government with a possible strike action. The danger of issuing threats is that when they are not followed through, despite the conditions that necessitated them remaining unchanged, they expose the weakness of the body making the threats.
The fear of losing the 2027 elections has activated an unspoken political mantra: Cooperate or perish! This appears to be the underlying message behind the wave of governorship defections. Now, the same pressure seems to be extending to workers: Cooperate with your governors or perish with them!
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Even affiliate private-sector unions are not left out. I know of a union that sent a circular to its members in 2019 openly declaring its support for the APC government of the late Muhammadu Buhari, who was visibly doing nothing in favour of workers. This is how bad the labour movement has become. When politicians who masquerade as labour leaders manage the welfare of the working masses, the masses will never fare well.
General secretaries are like errand boys in some unions today, answering to barely literate union presidents elected from the shop floor. When professionals are led by people with limited knowledge of the issues they are supposed to manage, one can only imagine what would become of such organisation.
We know how vulnerable and rickety the labour movement has become because of our failure to address fundamental structural misalignments and ideological contradictions. Until these deep-rooted problems are confronted, the movement will continue to struggle to fulfil its historic role as the vanguard for workers emancipation and national redemption.
It is not a bad thing that labour is kicking to create awareness that it is still alive, but we all know that no strike action organised by labour in recent times has ever been successful. Such strikes are usually called off about an hour before the scheduled midnight commencement even without a clear outcome from the negotiation
In the past, labour used to fight for everything: against bad governance, corruption, poor workers’ welfare, human rights abuses, and all forms of abuse. Since the NLC reduced itself to a mere negotiating body, its capacity to stand up for the people died. It is not enough to threaten the government with a possible strike action. The danger of issuing threats is that when they are not followed through, despite the conditions that necessitated them remaining unchanged, they expose the weakness of the body making the threats.
The NLC’s ultimatum has expired. So, what next? I belong to the school of thought that has little or no confidence in the NLC, and I am not expecting anything to happen. If the NLC eventually takes any decisive action, it will be a pleasant surprise that will beat not only my expectation but also that of Nigerians. A labour movement that constantly issues threats but fails to act when the need arises only reinforces the perception that it has lost its bite.
Comrade Amechi is a good-governance advocate and trade union activist.
