The House of Representatives on Tuesday moved to criminalise the rampant cases of casualisation and outsourcing of jobs in the country, passing for second reading a bill to stop the practice.
The House expressed concern that employers of labour, especially those in banking, telecom as well as oil and gas sector often resort to casualisation and outsourcing of jobs, thereby making Nigerians slave workers in their own country.
Organised Labour as well as officials of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, led by the Minister, Senator Chris Ngige have been in the forefront of the crusade to end casualisation and outsourcing in the country which forms one of the new conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as adopted during the centenary celebration of the world body.
Leading the debate on the necessity of the bill, Rep. Wale Raji who is the sponsor of the bill accused multinational companies operating in the telecom as well as oil and gas sectors of contributing to the economic crisis in the country by outsourcing jobs in their core mandate areas which can be handled by Nigerians to people from other countries.
He said this practice has created unemployment and series of labour unrest between these companies and organised labour in the country.
Raji said the bill seeks to mandate the regularization of an employee’s employment after six (6) months of employment and punish any person or corporate entity in breach with monetary penalty and jail term.
He said that the bill also seeks to amend the existing Labour Act aimed at prohibiting the concept of outsourcing of employment in the employer’s core area of operation, while providing adequate penalty in cases of breach.
He explained that a worker is said to be in a state of employment, when he is being employed or having a job or be a state in where a person employed is remunerated for work done.
He said further that in some employments, employees may receive benefits in addition to payments such as; health insurance, housing scheme, disability insurance adding that a worker is said to be in a state of unemployment, when he is being unemployed or not having a job.
This, he said is occasioned by employable applicants not being able to secure a place of engagement as a result of demand deficiency, limited spaces to occupy, lack of employment opportunities.
According to him, “a worker can be said to be in a state of disguised unemployment, when such a person is temporarily engaged and can be laid off at anything by the employer of labour.
“An example can be seen in the context of a contract staff, who is merely employed temporarily and can be laid off at any point. In such a situation, the worker will always be looking out for a better job that is permanent and suitable for his/her skills.”
The lawmaker said that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is currently estimated at 33.5 per cent which does not include workers in disguised unemployment constituted largely by workers in casual/contract employment.
He said that section 7 of the Labour Act provides that not later than three (3) months after the beginning of a worker’s employment, the employer shall give him a written statement of employment containing the terms and conditions of employment.
He disclosed that the law however does not make provisions of punishment for those who fail to comply with the provisions of the law.
He said the proposed “amendment is intended to abolish the obnoxious practice of casualization of a worker’s employment by creating a new section 8 which provides that an employer has a period of not less than six (6) months of engaging a worker to regularize his appointment as a full and permanent staff.
“It also provides that in the event of disengagement of a worker after a period of six (6) months from the date of first engagement without regularization, the worker shall be entitled to full salary, allowance and other benefits due to a permanent staff upon disengagement, provided that the worker has not been found liable of a criminal act involving fraud resulting to financial loss to the company.
“Upon the breach of the above provision, the proposed section 8(3) paragraph (a-b) provides the punishment for a natural person and corporate bodies respectively.”
Speaking further on the new concept if out-sourcing of jobs in an employer’s core area(s) of business, Raji said employers of labour in the country have exploited the inadequacies of existing labour laws to exploit workers.
He said “the concept of outsourcing of employment within the core areas of business of an employer was not anticipated during enactment of the extant law and the employers of labour in Nigeria have exploited this lacuna in outsourcing of jobs within their core areas of business to the disadvantage of the Nigerian workers.
“These employers of labour have taken undue advantage of unemployment situation in the country to practice slave labour. Employers in the banking, telecoms and the oil and gas industries are the worst culprits.
“To cure these anomalies, we have proposed a new section 9 which is to the effect that notwithstanding the provisions of section 25 of the extent Labour Act, employment outsourcing within an employer’s core area of business is prohibited and it will be an offence for a person or company to engage in such practice.
“In addition, upon the breach of the proposed section 9(1), section 9 (2)(a-b) provides the punishment with respect to a natural person and a corporate body respectively.
“The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has reiterated the need to fight against job outsourcing, especially in an organization’s core areas of operation.
“Multinational corporations in the telecoms, oil and gas sectors are currently contributing to the Nigeria economic crisis with their habit of outsourcing of workforce which an average Nigerian can be engaged in to other nationals thereby creating unemployment for its host country.
“After a critical examination of the provisions of the relevant laws and the practices as we have currently in the employment sector, I humbly urge this Honourable House to support this amendment bill of the Labour Act to mandate the regularization of an employee’s employment after six (6) months of employment and to prohibit outsourcing of employment in the employer’s core areas of operation and to further punish those in breach of this employment law.”
Those who contributed to the debate called for serious action against the practice of casualisation and outsourcing in the country, stressing the need to protect workers in the country.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Labour and Employment who will conduct a public hearing on it before returning it to the House for further legislative action.
