The Deputy-President of the United Labour Congress (ULC), Mr Igwe Achese, says contrary to claims by the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, that the ULC is not recognised by the Federal Government, the union is registered under the Trade Union Act.
But Achese, who is also the President of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, said the ULC is registered under the Trade Union Act.
“We have gone through the process of registration, the act is very clear when you talk about the issues of labour movement,” he said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Speaking further, he explained that the amendment of the Trade Union Act by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration changed the core of unionism in the country.
He said, “If you recall, when NLC was formed by an Act by the then Head of State, Obasanjo, because it is only Obasanjo that created the two labour centres you are seeing.
“One, as a military Head of State in 1977/78, we had about four labour federations in the country at that time. Then these four labour federations were collapsed together by Obasanjo and created just one – the NLC.
“Now, at the time these federations were all collapsed and a fair directive was given to say NLC must exist, nobody protested against that. Then NLC is existing today as an institution.”
He said in 2004, as a democratic President, Obasanjo, however, amended the Act that created the NLC.
“He amended that Act and proscribed NLC and amended that Act that gave room that TUC should be registered as a labour federation. It means that as a country you can have more than one labour centre,” he added.
The Union Labour Congress and the Minister of Labour, Mr Chris Ngige have been at a disagreement following the inability of the ministry to recognise the union in the country, whereby Ngige openly said he recognises only the Nigerian Labour Congress.