Nigerian Unions Picket a Chinese Construction Firm in Abuja, Citing Two Worker Deaths and a Lack of Medical Care
ABUJA — The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) picketed Wizchino Engineering (WE) Nigeria Limited, a Chinese construction firm, in the capital Abuja on October 21, accusing its management of anti-labour practices: preventing workers from unionising, failing to provide clear pay structures and maintaining no usable medical facilities.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NUCECFWW national president Stephen Okoro, who led the protest at the company's Jabi site, said two workers had recently died at two different company locations, which the union linked to the absence of a registered clinic where workers could seek emergency care. Protesters carried placards demanding decent wages, the right to unionise and an end to what they described as hire-and-fire employment without clear conditions of service.
Benson Upah, the NLC's acting general secretary, warned at the scene that the congress would not hesitate to take further action, including shutting the company down, if it failed to comply with Nigerian labour laws. Local media reported that Wizchino's management had not responded to the unions' allegations as of the day of the protest. The deaths and employment allegations are the unions' account.
(Source: News Agency of Nigeria)
Source: News Agency of Nigeria
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：尼日利亚首都阿布贾天际线（资料图，AdastralNg22 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0），经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Abuja skyline in Nigeria's capital (file photo, AdastralNg22, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
