The labour dispute between the management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, and the domestic branch of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, and National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Employees, NUBIFIE, has been resolved as a result of the intervention of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom, Daju.
It will be recalled that the permanent secretary had through a letter dated Thursday, June 22, 2023, apprehended the dispute in line with section 18 of the Trade Disputes Act, while inviting the parities to a conciliation meeting on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
While NUBIFIE complied with the directive, the ASSBIFI unit of the Fund in flagrant disregard, embarked on an industrial action on Monday, June 26, 2023, picketing and blocking access to the head office.
Frowning on the unfriendly labour activities of ASSBIFI at the conciliation meeting convened at the Conference Room of the Minister of Labour, the permanent secretary expressed displeasure and warned that the absence of a minister did not constitute a breakdown of institutional hierarchy and order, to warrant disobedience to lawful directives.
She further conveyed deep reservations over the decision of ASSBIFI to resort to external help without exhausting the internal conciliation mechanism in the ministry over a purely human resources issues, noting that it smacked of “mischief.”
It will be recalled also that the union without deference to the permanent secretary, wrote to the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation for intervention.
A source at the meeting quoted Daju as saying: “Bad enough, not one person came to me to report these matters or remind me and seek resolution.All we started seeing were accounts in the social media that bring the agency and the ministry to disrepute.
“I summoned this meeting for a conversation that will be beneficial to all of us, taking all the issues one by one. I am open and will be fair to all.
“Your MD and ED Administration told me you have been meeting. In fact, met last Friday because I had to call them back from retreat to meet with you, because I said my house cannot be on fire, having also been briefed by my Director of Trade Union Services.
“But you now bypassed all and went to the office of the Head of Service. And everything is on social media and everybody is asking what is going on in the NSITF again. Again why NSITF? It is not good for us?
“You might think you are trying to achieve whatever you set out for, but to be honest, it would have been the best if we had sat down and had this conversation before going public with your agitations. Not doing it smacks of mischief.
“You didn’t come to me but I called for this conversation because that is what we need to do. You have a wife, you have children, they quarrel and you make peace as a family. You don’t take it to your neighbours.
“Even though your MD said these issues have been addressed, it is obvious that some of them have not been addressed. Which ones have not been addressed?
“As I told her, there are issues that are immediate, there are those that are for medium term and there are those for long term. Meet your staff because we all have to come to an agreement on how to resolve them all. The management and staff must agree on them.
“We must resolve whatever they are, because to be frank, I’m not going to sit here and read you are on the streets of Abuja again, not when I’m permanent secretary. Not having a minister in place for now does not mean dispute resolution has ceased. It is not Federal Ministry of Labour, please.”