Press statement on FOBTOB nation-wide strike for 20% pay rise

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Femi Aborisade

Legal Practitioner

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Press Statement

ASSOCIATION OF FOOD, BEVERAGE AND TOBACCO EMPLOYERS (AFBTE):

NEGOTIATE WITH FOBTOB AND GRANT PAY RISE OUT OF PROFIT RISE

It is absurd that the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) whose members have incontrovertibly recorded appreciable rise in profit has been resisting granting a 20% pay rise to members of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB). The AFBTE should therefore meet the demands of FOBTOB in order to end the current indefinite nationwide strike which FOBTOB was compelled to commence on 11^th December 2017.

In spite of the economic difficulties in Nigeria, the Food, Beverage and Tobacco industry has been witnessing growth in production and profit levels as the sample statements below show.

For example, in the Unaudited Results for the six months ending 30^th September 2017 for International Breweries PLC, the Company Secretary/General Counsel stated as follows:

“The Board is happy to note that despite the challenges in the operating environment, there are improvements in revenue growth, operating profit and profit before tax compared with the same period in the prior year”.

If the employers are happy as the above quoted official statement categorically shows, we call on the employers association, the AFBTE, to equally make their staff happy by granting the 20 percent salary increase demanded by FOBTOB.

Also, in the Nestle Nigeria PLC’s Unaudited Results for the period ended 30^th September 2017, the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Bode Ayeku, Esq. stated in part that:

“… Net profit for the period has increased substantially due to internal cost saving initiatives, operating efficiency and a significant reduction in the net financing costs.”.

Again, we reiterate that it is an unacceptable contradiction that the employers expressly acknowledge rise in net profits but they are resisting conceding pay rise to the workers who made it possible for them to realise the profit rises in the industry.

We therefore unequivocally support the demand of FOBTOB for a 20% pay rise. If the membership remains united, victory is certain. We call on workers and their unions, nationally and internationally, to show solidarity with FOBTOB. Employers support each other nationally and internationally. Workers and their unions must also show international solidarity for other workers in struggle. Workers, by the nature of their struggles, are internationalists.

We also call on the trade union movement to mount pressure on the Federal Government to adopt policies to ensure that employers fulfill a social responsibility pact such that in situations of proven net profit rises, employers ameliorate societal economic agony of their employees by granting wage and salary rises rather than accentuating social and industrial conflicts and crises by the refusal to grant contractual bi-annual collective bargaining for wage reviews in this particular industry

Femi Aborisade, Esq.

12^th December 2017