Chinese firms maltreating, enslaving our members, construction workers’ union laments

Construction workers in Nigeria have knocked Chinese-owned companies operating in Nigeria for having disregards for Nigerians working with them.

The workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), lamented that the Chinese firms treated their Nigerian employees as second-class citizens, deprived them of rights to join labour unions and threaten to sack them sack whenever they lay complaints.

General Secretary of the union, Ibrahim Abubakar Walama, stated this at the opening of the 6th quadrennial delegates’ conference held in Kano on Wednesday.

He said, “They don’t regard their workers as human beings. We can better call what is happening in their companies human slavery.

“They don’t follow the labour standards in terms of workers’ safety. Instead of providing buses to shuttle workers to their places of work, they carry us in trucks and trailers meant for carrying goods, thereby exposing us to dangers. No safety wears, no rain boot, as if they are operating on another planet.

“Unfortunately, some of our government officials are not doing enough to address the issue. We have severally reported to them but it seems nobody is coming to our aid. That is why we decide to take the fight as a union.

“They don’t even regard the workers’ rights to join labour unions as guaranteed by Nigerian constitution and International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.

“And if you dare do it, they humiliate you and threaten you with sack. They sometimes use our local security forces to intimidate our workers. We will do everything possible within the ambit of the law to fight this.”