TUC presidential aspirant promises to protect workers’ interests

The Trade Union Congress will hold its election soon.

The National President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, Olusoji Salako, has said that he would provide quality leadership at the Trade Union Congress if he wins the forthcoming election of the union.

He said he would not sell Nigerian workers out if he got elected.

The incumbent president of the TUC, Peter Esele, one of the two major labour umbrella bodies, (the other being the Nigeria Labour Congress) is expected to step down in a few weeks, after serving two terms in office; and a new president is expected to be sworn-in come June 20/21.

Mr. Salako, a TUC presidential aspirant, in an interview on Tuesday, said though the present administration has done impressively, a lot needs to be done as there are lots of opportunities to leverage on still abound.

“I want to lead the workers of Nigeria into a future of possibilities. The present leadership of TUC has done a lot. TUC is a brand, a very big brand in Nigeria, there is no doubt about that, but we cannot rest on our oars. We have to keep improving. There is need for someone to really leverage on that and he (Mr. Esele) raised the bar that is why it is a desire to consolidate on the achievement of the present leadership,” he said.

“You have to ensure that the workers there are motivated, they are trained and the capacity to deliver is further reinforced. We would not sell them out. Whenever they need us, we would be there, not a situation that we would lie low at.”

He said the TUC currently operates from a rented apartment and he would strive to change that.

“Once there is the building, you also need to have quality human resources to go complement that. As we are retooling, we also want to re-organise the staff, and upgrade those who are there. Anyone that is not competent in an area can be moved to another where he would be effective. It is about putting a round peg in a round hole.

“We want a functional and well equipped secretariat, highly skilled and motivated staff, robust platform for social change and justice for workers, with strong connections in work place, solid intervention thrusts that promote industrial democracy” he said, adding that he would want to see a TUC that would be entrenched with multiple streams of income that would enable it meet its obligation to the workers of the country.

“There is no organisation that is perfect. The present leadership has done its best, by my bench mark, they have done very well, but of course, we cannot live on the past. We have to keep working and improving” Mr. Salako said.

The other aspirants for the president of the congress are Babatunde Ogun, President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN); Balla Kangama, President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria; and Tunde Abdulrahman, President of the Food, Beverage and Tobaccoo workers of Nigeria (FOBTOB).

The aspirants, who attended Mr. Salako’s presidential campaign in Lagos over the weekend, said they would give their support to whoever emerges president in June.

TUC, a central coordinating body for (about 24) senior staff associations in Nigeria, works closely with the NLC to collectively fight for workers’ rights in Nigeria as well as put the government in check as regards new policies and amendment of existing ones. The duo’s decisions usually go a long way in determining the fate of workers, and sometimes, the whole citizens, such as the subsidy dispute which Nigerians faced last year January.