Sacked Corporate Affairs Commission staff appeal for reinstatement

Ayangbelu Ademola Adewusi and Momoh Jimoh Dauda both generator operators, Braimoh Charles Akpespkhe, an electrician and four others, who had worked for the organization since 2011, said they were told to sign the outsource form last June or lose their jobs.In a letter to the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and some […]

Ayangbelu Ademola Adewusi and Momoh Jimoh Dauda both generator operators, Braimoh Charles Akpespkhe, an electrician and four others, who had worked for the organization since 2011, said they were told to sign the outsource form last June or lose their jobs.
In a letter to the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and some labour unions signed by the three, the sacked workers said they had worked as casual staff for the organization at their engagement by the commission.
Stating that they were employed without appointment letters, they stressed that “at the time of our employment, we were promised that we would be absorbed into the permanent staff cadre once the embargo is lifted on employment.
“On this basis, we accepted the casual status of our engagement, trusting that the commission, being not just a statutory corporation but also a good corporate organization would live up to her promise.”
They said they worked 14 hours instead of the prescribed eight hours “yet we were neither remunerated in line with the minimum wage policy nor in line with remuneration of permanent staff of the commission with whom we have the same qualifications and years of experience. In addition, we were not entitled to leave, public holiday, gratuity or pension.”
According to them, the Commission in 2012 converted some casual staff and also employed fresh ones, “yet we were not considered, the promise made us at the time of our employment, notwithstanding.”
Reacting to the allegation, Director Public Affairs of the CAC Mr Churchill Williams, said “these persons have no kind of letter engaging them either as casual or permanent staff, they are just technical people we contact regularly to do ad-hoc technical work.
“In view of the frequent engagement, whereby we always have to negotiate at the end of every work done, we came up instead with a monthly stipend arrangement for them. We have a lot of respect for labour laws and do not engage and disengage staff at will in the commission.”