Date: 2013-06-18

President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, yesterday canvassed for the establishment of a political wing of labour movement in Nigeria. He added that it would remove misconception about the labour movement in the country. Comrade Esele spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara, state capital, at a workshop organised by Daily Independent newspapers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) and Trade Union Congress (TUC). He said: "There is the need for the labour movement in Nigeria to have a political wing. That is why there is a lot of misconception. In the UK for instance, the TUC in the UK is a strong member of the Labour Party in the UK. In the US, the Labour Federation America is involved in the Democratic Party. "We cannot play political role and labour simultaneously. But we can look out for any party whose policies and programmes will best protect the interest and welfare of the Nigerian workers and support it." The TUC president, whose tenure expires this month, added that "most of the strikes in Nigeria were because the authorities did not do what they were supposed to do. "It was when I became TUC President that I started knowing that we do not keep agreement. I worked in the private sector, we are used to keeping agreements. We can negotiate for seven months. But once it is signed, nobody can go back from it. "But when I became TUC President, I realized that you can sit with government or even the highest authority, and you sign an agreement. But the following week, nothing seems to be happening. And you start asking when we were negotiating; did we cover your eyes? When things like that happen, you have a breakdown. So the option we have is to go on strike since the government is not listening." He added that, "My challenge had to do with people want us to be trade union in the morning, in the afternoon they want us to be opposition party, and in the evening, they want us to be activists and civil rights campaigners. "There is the need to find the balance to make people to understand that we are first and foremost a trade union. My responsibility as TUC President is to defend and protect the interest of the workers who are paying dues and who primarily are those who elected me. They are those that I owe that primary responsibility to. "The secondary responsibility is to the larger family. But most times, the larger society wants them to be primary. We always look at it that if the workers are happy, the larger society is also happy, because on the average, an average Nigerian worker takes care of seven others. "I have become more knowledgeable about my country and myself. I have had the honour and privilege of leading a wonderful team, which one is proud of."