CONTRARY to the basic essence of trade unionism, which include the protection of workers rights, the advancement of improved welfare and decent working conditions, as well as the security of tenure of employment; the reverse seems to be the case for workers in the food and beverage sector in Nigeria, an investigation by National Record has revealed.
Our findings indicate that between May and September 2021, more than 600 workers have been sacked by the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Ltd and Dufil-Deunited Food Industry Limited, makers of popular noodle, Indomie, following agreements between them and the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), the umbrella union of junior workers in the food sector, in which the companies declared redundancy on terms that are still unclear.
Workers who have not yet been laid-off in the sector, our investigations found, are currently under unending psychological strain and fear as the redundancy axe continues to dangle in factory floors across the food sector.
These massive layoffs, National Record gathered, are however not on account of the poor performance of the companies, the workers and the economy in general but outcome of the pressures allegedly being mounted on the management of the companies by the Comrade Lateef Idowu Oyelekan leadership of NUFBTE to tame the tide of agitation against his tenure elongation as President since August 2020.
Our findings indicate that while the Nigerian Breweries PLC had in its half-year 2021 financial statement posted huge profits in spite of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the profit margin of the Seven-Up Bottling Company had picked up in the last three years as against its struggles a decade ago. As a sign of its positive economic outlook, Seven-Up were said to have introduced a number of new products into the beverages market – among which are 2Sure and Super Commando – all of which, we’re told, are doing very well in the beverage market.
For Dufil-Deunited Foods Industry Limited, the makers of Indomie, its performance for the past ten years, according its employees, is not only fantastic, but also struggling to keep pace with demand for the company’s products notwithstanding the Covid-19 related economic crisis. This scenario indicates that the owners continue to smile to the banks.
Rather than re-direct their profits towards employing more workers and improve the welfare of their existing employees or re-investment, these companies, our investigations reveal, instead have for the past four to five years continued to upscale their intake of casual workers; a situation which the Comrade Oyelekan leadership of NUFBTE, not only allegedly encouraged but had since last year turned into an effective weapon against members of his union opposed to his iron grip on the levers of power in the union by demanding from the managements of companies to declare redundancy.
Of the over 600 members of the union so far sacked from Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited and Dufil-Deunited Foods Industry Limited, all the elected officers at unit, branch and state levels of the union were affected, along with those who, though not union officers, but had been visibly involved in the activism to end Comrade Oyelekan’s ‘tenure elongation,’ were among those reportedly laid-off.
In fact, National Record gathered that in companies where the management refused to succumb to the pressures from the union’s national leadership to sack workers, the secretariat unilaterally dissolved the leadership at that unit and set up a new one without holding any election. In others, the national secretariat would give a directive demoting elected branch officers and imposed its handpicked officers.
A case that evidently illustrated this, our investigations reveal, happened in Nestle Nigeria Plc where duly elected officers were removed from their positions via demotion.
For example, the Agbara Unit Chairman of the union was demoted to the position of Vice Chairman, while the Treasurer was demoted to Ex-officio 5. Similarly, in Sagamu Unit, the Secretary and the Treasurer were allegedly demoted, following the directives from the National President.
Another was in Ogun State where NUFBTE’s Council Chairman, Comrade Abe Abiodun Philip, who is also the current Deputy Chairman of the Ogun State Council of NLC, was allegedly removed by NUFBTE via a letter from the national secretariat of the union.
Redundancy agreement as indictment of Oyelekan
Apart from the economic realities of the companies that had laid-off the workers and the testimonies of some of those affected by the exercise, the redundancy agreement, in the case of Nigerian Breweries Plc, and a communiqué, in the case of Seven-Up Bottling Company Ltd, signed by representatives from NUFBTE’s National Secretariat and the companies, combine to substantially prove that the Oyelekan leadership might really be culpable being behind the termination of employment of their members.
The Nigerian Breweries agreement, entitled: “Conclusions Reached Between the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) and NB PLC Management at a Meeting Held on Thursday, 27th May, 2021 in Lagos Brewery Bar, NB PLC,” right from the first paragraph remains a point-blank insult to trade unionism.
This is because in the redundancy here, which affected a total of 250 workers, there was absolutely no contestation from the union’s leadership, obviously because it was, as alleged, at the behest of the union’s leadership. The company therefore merely proceeded to take the action knowing that there was no resistance from the union that was meant to protect the poor workers.
The agreement reads: “Management briefed the Union on the Company’s plan to carry out an outplacement and early retirement exercise as part of the on-going efforts to re-align Company operations in order to remain competitive and profitable.”
The agreement further states, on exit benefits for the affected workers, that: “In recognition of the hardship the redundancy exercise may impose on the affected employees, Management has decided to pay an ex-gratia goodwill bonus in addition to the NJIC negotiated redundancy benefits in the industry. Therefore, the exit package will be as follows:
“1. Three (3) months basic salary in lieu of notice for those on redundancy list and six (6) months’ salary in lieu of notice for those proceeding on early retirement
“2. Industry negotiated redundancy benefit
“3. Service Gratuity (Ordinarily, this is mutually exclusive of 2 above)
“4. Pension fund contribution in line with the rules of the fund
“5. Ex-gratia goodwill bonus.”
If the exercise in Nigerian Breweries looked like an insult to trade unionism, that at the Seven-Up Bottling Company was a combination of a slap and an insult, because, here, what is described as a communiqué could rightly be called a mere list of items and figures agreed to serve a predetermined plot that needed no embellishment.
Entitled, “Communiqué of Meeting Between the Management of Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited and National Union of Food, Beverage & Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) at NECA House (Osunkeye Hall), Ikeja on Tuesday, May 11, 2021,” it reads:
“Subject: Reorganisation in Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited
“Rational for the Exercise: Operational Reorganisation
“Number of Junior Staff Affected: Three hundred (300) employees shall be affected. The exercise should be completed not later than June 30, 2021.” [Our emphasis]. These were the core items in the engagement between the company’s management and the union’s leadership.
It was later in the course of this investigation that the meaning of the emphasis on the word “junior” became apparent. It was consciously inserted because the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) had opposed the redundancy on the argument that it was not necessary, since the companies were doing very well. This was clearly inferred to in short interview with Comrade Jimoh Oyinbo, the National President of FOBTOB, which we’ll refer to in the second part of this report.
In addition to that, Comrade Mike Olanrewaju, NUFBTE’s Acting General Secretary, while denying the allegation in an interview, details of which will also be featured in the second part of this report, stated that some of the workers affected by the redundancy actually requested to be laid-off because of the huge pay-off they were going to collect.
Key targets of redundancy
Our investigations show that while majority of the union members were opposed to the continued stay in office of Comrade Oyelekan as National President, the Oyelekan leadership however initially thought that they were being manipulated by a few, and that after the union’s emergency delegates conference of August last year where he was to be endorsed for another two years, the tide of resistance would die down.
This was not to be, and in reaction, the Oye leadership, as Comrade Oyelekan is popularly called in the union, along with his strong backers in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), felt a few strong anti-Oye activists in the Food Union were the backbone. Hence, a plot was hatched to expel some of these strong Oye antagonists from the union at all levels, especially in the critical branches in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states.
This plot was executed in the Asaba Extra-Ordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union on October 19, 2020 with the expulsion of anti-Oye activists like Comrades Abe Abiodun Philip, Amaechi Abadom, Peter Onoja, Abiodun Olawuwo, among about 50 other union members.
Also thrown out of the union along with this group was the union’s General Secretary, Comrade Bamidele Busari, whose crime, National Record gathered, was his unwillingly to be used to recklessly hound members of the union for exercising their right to express their views on the Oyelekan’s tenure elongation.
After the expulsion of the alleged leaders of the agitation still did not mute the resistance in especially Nigerian Breweries, Seven-Up, Nestle, Promasidor, Pharmadeko Plc, and of lately, Indomie; it became clear to the Oye group that what was needed to perhaps permanently eliminate opposition was the sacking of many of the supporters in these companies.
It is in the context of this, National Record’s findings indicate, that Comrade Oyelekan turned attention to redundancy, a practice which all the key actors said had been his most effective weapon in quelling opposition. And in this, he was said to have relied on the continued support of the NLC and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
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