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Labour threatens to Shut Promasidor Down with Industrial Action

By on July 11, 2012

Organized labour under the aegis of National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUBTE) have threatened to shut down Promasidor, a leading food company in Nigeria and paralyze its business activities if the company refuses to pay its staff salaries for the month of June.

Promasidor withheld the salaries due to an earlier strike threat from the labour union. That threat was issued after the company terminated the services of 796 contract staff in its employ. The union was aggrieved in that instance because it was not consulted to negotiate the terminal benefits of the employees.

In a letter dated July 5th 2012, sent to Promasidor by the union’s General Secretary, Comrade A. Danjuma, the union maintained the company mmust pay the salaries on or before July 12, 2012 in order to avoid a crisis.

An excerpt of the letter, ”

Information reaching us indicates that you have deliberately decided to delay the payment of salaries of your workers, (our members) for the month of June 2012. This is further substantiated by your communiqués dated June 28, 2012 and July 4, 2012.

“To worsen matters you are deceitfully misinforming workers of the current position, by telling them that you are waiting for a pronouncement. The mediators we had were the ministry of labour and productivity, Lagos State and the Director General of NECA. Both were unequivocal in asserting that you locked out your workers and should therefore accept responsibility.

“You have not in any form denied locking out the workers. However, you dismissed their recommendations as unreasonable. This is unfortunate. If your contention is on the full payment of our members salaries for the days you locked them out, the position of the union remain unchanged and irreversible.

“You must pay the full salary to the workers for the month of June 2012. This is for the avoidance of doubt, if by July 12, 2012, the salaries of our members are not paid in full; we will without much ado decide the next line of action. You are hereby advised to avoid another crisis. Face realities and stop misinforming the workers,” it added.

In its response the management of Promasidor insisted it would not pay the workers for the period of shutdown, maintaining its position that the earlier threat of strike action via a letter was indeed a strike action.

Managing director of Promasidor, Keith Richards said, “”We are seeking official review to determine the dispute on the responsibility for the stoppage based on our assertion that the letter from the National body of NUFBTE and the support from the local branch constituted a strike action. The wider industry and other peer companies are concerned about the situation and are interested in engagements going forward”.

He added, “Another issue I wish to address is the deliberate attempt by some people to personalise this dispute on to individuals. Let me make this clear. As unpopular as any decision may be, the responsibility is mine as MD with full support of the board. For your information, I make decisions after consultation with all the leadership team and senior managers as appropriate.

“I know everyone is worried about their salary and feeding. I do not take the decisions I do for any reason but for the best interests of Promasidor as a whole. As I have a clearer understanding of our financial position. I hope to be able to make an announcement by next week on payment of salaries for the days we have been able to work in June”.