The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has asked Dangote Petrochemical Refinery to publicly apologize for firing over 800 Nigerian workers.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily show on Monday, TUC’s Secretary General, Nuhu Toro, said the refinery broke the workers’ constitutional rights.
Toro was reacting to a dispute between the refinery and the Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) over workers’ rights to join a union.
“This issue affects the TUC because PENGASSAN is part of our organization. You can’t hurt someone’s child and expect the parent to do nothing,” Toro said.
He added that both PENGASSAN and TUC were present at a meeting held on September 8 at the Ministry of Labour to address the situation.
“We want Dangote to reverse the unfair dismissal of over 800 workers. After that, we expect a public apology from the refinery, and a promise that such actions won’t happen again,” he said.
Toro also said Dangote Refinery has refused to face the real issue, which is the workers’ right to join a union.
“Instead of dealing with the problem, Dangote tried to give the unions a bad image. They broke the earlier agreement not to punish any workers involved,” he added.
He stressed that workers have the right to choose which union they want to join. In this case, the workers chose PENGASSAN and signed the necessary forms.
Toro said Dangote’s claim of “sabotage” was just an excuse, and there’s no proof to back it up. “If you say it’s sabotage, then show the evidence,” he said.
He also accused the refinery of treating Nigerian workers unfairly compared to Indian workers, calling it oppression.
“It’s upsetting that Dangote, who gets so much support from the government, treats Nigerians badly while giving special treatment to Indian staff,” he said.
He described the situation as economic oppression and modern-day slavery, which TUC and PENGASSAN will not accept.
Toro insisted that Dangote must respect workers’ rights and allow them to freely join unions. He also said the unions are open to dialogue.
“We are Nigerians too, and no one is more patriotic than the workers who help build this country,” he said.
He rejected the claim that the workers are not patriotic or are trying to harm the economy. “There are free trade zones like Onne, where workers still belong to unions,” he added.
Toro reminded the public that in the past, the unions supported Dangote when he faced challenges in starting the refinery.
“It would be wrong for anyone to think we want to stop the refinery from succeeding. We helped him when he needed it,” he said.
He concluded by saying that union members are true patriots who only want fair treatment. They will not accept slavery in the name of employment.
“We support Dangote’s investment in Nigeria, but we won’t tolerate slave-like working conditions. Workers’ rights are protected by law,” Toro said.
