In a petition to the NHRC, HURIWA asked the commission to impress it upon the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity to respect the constitutional provision of freedom of association and grant the license to the ULC.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has dragged the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Labour Minister, Dr Chris Ngige, to the National Human Rights Commission over the refusal to license United Labour Congress as an independent labour organisation.
In a petition to the NHRC, HURIWA asked the commission to impress it upon the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity to respect the constitutional provision of freedom of association and grant the license to the ULC.
The group said, “This is to demand that your institution intervenes to reverse what we consider as serial violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of association of Nigerian workers in both public and private sectors who decided to set up a trade union known as United Labour Congress.
“As stakeholders in the human rights sector, we have watched with shock and disappointment, the adversarial roles played by the Nigerian Labour congress to undermine the licensing of the independent trade-union platform known as ULC.
“The leadership of NLC has used the instruments of violence against Nigerian workers democratically engaging employers in Nigeria.
“They have hired armed thugs to inflict heavy injuries on both fellow trade union leaders, workers, passers-by and journalists all in a bid to ruthlessly establish hegemony over Nigerian workers.
“We call on the NHRC to look into this issue to ensure that the right of Nigerian workers are protected.”