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MSA Hails Merger Of Labour Movements To Defend Nigerian Workers’ Interest

Dagga Tolar, spokesperson for MSA, in a statement said the labour movement as a matter of duty took up the task of opposing all attempts by the ruling elites to make the working masses pay for the failure of their system and the losses the profit-driven system don’t want to bear as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Movement for a Socialist Alternative has welcomed the new and united Nigeria Labour Congress following its merger with the United Labour Congress previously led by Ayuba Wabba and Joe Ajaero respectively.

Dagga Tolar, spokesperson for MSA, in a statement said the labour movement as a matter of duty took up the task of opposing all attempts by the ruling elites to make the working masses pay for the failure of their system and the losses the profit-driven system don’t want to bear as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement reads, “We want to state that the NLC, as reconstituted, needs not to carry out its responsibilities by words or issuance of statements, but indeed, be proactive in defending the interest of the working masses against the capitalist policies of privatization and deregulation of the economy, which largely have led to the rise of unemployment and economic hardship.

“In this light, we welcome the opposition to the cancellation of “electricity tariff” and the increase in the pump price of fuel. The MSA wants to propose that the question of energy for the economy is key, and a revisit to the struggle of the past will serve to bring on board the necessity to consistently oppose the policy of privatization and deregulation of the key sectors of the economy.

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“Events have demonstrated that nothing whatsoever has improved in the electricity sector since it was privatized 2013, except for the fact that the country and the working masses became nothing but milking cows for the private profiteers, known as the DisCos. The MSA urges the NLC leadership to be seen defending the working masses, to insist on the re-nationalization of the electricity sector, under the democratic management of workers and consumers. Also, it should commence a campaign, both in the trade unions and outside of it, to educate and bring the working masses to mount pressure on the ruling elites for this to be achieved.

“In the same vein, the need for building new and functional refineries are key in ending the continued importation of fuel in the country, which serves as permanent means for the oil barons to continue to eat and line up their pockets with super-profits at the expense of the working masses living at the bottom line of economic hardship.

“So also, is the need to campaign against casualisation and oppose the contracting out of labour, that is, the so-called outsourcing. MSA urges the labour leadership to revitalize the casualisation committee of the NLC to again become active, draw up the list of culprits and draw up a programme of picketing and ensure the needful be done.

“The NLC must urgently review the last struggle for the new minimum wage, review her effort in this regard to insist on full implementation as well as to oppose any attempt to cut down on wages, as well as leading a struggle to demand payment of arrears of workers’ salaries owed by states when political officials are not owed any Naira in these same states.

“The MSA is also of the view that the question of no to a job loss as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic be put forward and that capitalists must as a matter of duty part away with a portion of their super profit, which they enjoyed in the past and from the toil and labour of workers. Where this is not possible, the government needs to bring such a factory into public ownership under the management of elected members of the workforce.”