Workers reject unions as TUC, NLC picket Abuja hotel

Workers at the Abuja Continental Hotel openly rejected unionization attempts on Monday, chanting "No to union" as the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress picketed the establishment. The unions claimed to be protesting alleged anti-labor practices and denying workers the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining.

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No to union

However, the workers themselves insisted they had not sought union intervention and were not interested in joining any labor union. They displayed placards stating, "The union are not representing us" and "We did not invite or request union representation. We are comfortable discussing our employment matters directly; TUC does not speak for us."

Samuel Esiakpoyere, a spokesperson for the workers, told journalists that employees were unaware of any correspondence or disagreements between the unions and hotel management. "To the best of our knowledge, this matter affects us. If there are correspondences, how many? How have they engaged these stakeholders? We have not seen anything," he said. He added that the workers believed management was making efforts to improve their welfare and warned that the picketing could damage the business and hurt the employees the unions claimed to be defending.

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The union are not representing us

"We don’t want the union to kill us in trying to help us. If truly, the agenda that they are here for is to help us, you don’t have to kill us. You don’t have to stop the business. You don’t have to destroy everything because you want to make a point. It doesn’t work that way. To the best of my knowledge, I do not know who they are talking about. That is all I have to say. We are saying no to unionisation," Esiakpoyere declared.

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We did not invite or request union representation. We are comfortable discussing our employment matters directly; TUC does not speak for us.

The TUC dismissed the workers' protest, with General Secretary Nuhu Toro stating that several workers had expressed interest in joining unions but were allegedly being intimidated. Toro said the labor center had sought dialogue with hotel management and written to them on August 4, but the management reportedly replied they might not be available for discussion until the end of November due to renovation work.

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To the best of our knowledge, this matter affects us. If there are correspondences, how many? How have they engaged these stakeholders? We have not seen anything.