Reform Labour Act to criminalise casualisation, PSI tells FG

The umbrella body of world trade unions, Public Service International (PSI), has called on the Federal Government to strengthen the Labour Inspectorate Division of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure regular visits to corporate entities to ascertain their compliance with employment regulations as contained in the country’s labour laws. In a communique […]

The umbrella body of world trade unions, Public Service International (PSI), has called on the Federal Government to strengthen the Labour Inspectorate Division of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure regular visits to corporate entities to ascertain their compliance with employment regulations as contained in the country’s labour laws.

In a communique issued at the end of a two-day workshop in Maiduguri, PSI’s National Coordination Committee (NCC) urged the government to reform the Labour Act, especially Section 7, to criminalise casualisation.

PSI said government should introduce timeous conditions and provide stiffer penalties for any employer that indulged in casualisation of work or outsourcing of employment.

In the communique signed by PSI’s Regional Secretary for Africa and Arab Region, Comrade Sani Baba, PSI resolved that the trade union movement must continue to struggle against precarious employment in all ramifications going by the fact that precarious employment did not guarantee job stability and the future.

PSI is a global union federation which has 684 trade unions from 152 countries as affiliates, representing over 30 million workers in social services and healthcare

PSI further recommended that, “Nigeria should ratify Convention 102 on Social Security (Minimum Standards) as a boost to already existing legal framework and labour standards against casualisation of work.

It said, “We call on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations (UN) through their relevant organs and institutions to designate casualisation of work as a crime against humanity to guarantee job stability and the future.”

PSI also urged labour unions to continue to engage government on the provision of social protection for workers in Nigeria, especially in the area of health, education and the basic needs.