Workers of Abuja Continental Hotel on Monday rejected attempts by organised labour to unionise them as the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress picketed the hotel over alleged anti-labour practices.
The workers, who gathered at the hotel during the protest, chanted “No to union” and displayed placards rejecting the intervention of the labour unions.
The development created a fresh dimension to the dispute, with the unions claiming they were fighting to protect workers’ rights while some employees insisted they had neither invited the unions nor sought representation.
The TUC and NLC, through their affiliated unions, accused the hotel management of denying workers the right to freedom of association, unionisation and collective bargaining.
But some workers said they were unaware of the alleged dispute between the unions and hotel management and questioned why organised labour was acting on their behalf without consulting them.
One of the workers’ representatives, Samuel Esiakpoyere, said employees had not been carried along in the dispute.
“To the best of our knowledge, this matter affects us. If there are correspondences, how many? How have they engaged these stakeholders? We have not seen anything,” he said.
Esiakpoyere said workers believed the management was making efforts to improve their welfare and warned that prolonged picketing could negatively affect the hotel and ultimately hurt employees.
“The management, they are doing their best, and we know that whatever we are going through is going to be a lot better,” he said.
“We don’t want the union to kill us in trying to help us. You don’t have to stop the business or destroy everything because you want to make a point.”
He added, “We are saying no to unionisation.”
The workers carried placards with messages including, “The union are not representing us” and “We did not invite or request union representation. We are comfortable discussing our employment matters directly; TUC does not speak for us.”
However, the TUC dismissed the workers’ position as unrepresentative of the entire workforce, insisting that some employees had expressed interest in joining unions but were allegedly being intimidated.
The TUC General Secretary, Nuhu Toro, said the labour centre had initially attempted to resolve the dispute through dialogue.
According to him, the TUC wrote to the hotel management on August 4 seeking a meeting over alleged violations of workers’ rights.
He said the hotel responded that it might not be available for discussions until the end of November because of ongoing renovation work.
“And that is why we are here,” Toro said, arguing that workers’ rights issues could not be postponed for months.
He said the labour movement was exercising its constitutional right to demand that workers be allowed to freely associate and engage in collective bargaining.
Toro also rejected claims that the hotel management was unaware of the TUC’s correspondence, saying the union had documentary evidence of its communication with the company.
“I can share with you the letter we sent to them, and I can also share their response to us,” he said.
He added that copies of the correspondence had been made available to security agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services.
Toro said the picketing would continue throughout the week and that the labour movement would review the situation on Friday.
“We will be here for this week. From now until Friday, we will be here. We will review it on Friday. If they are ready to talk, we will talk,” he said.
Responding to the workers’ public rejection of unionisation, Toro said the protesters could not necessarily be regarded as representing the entire workforce.
“Everybody has a right to their opinion. Are they all the workers? Can you authoritatively tell me that they are all the workers? No,” he said.
He maintained that some workers were willing to join the unions and that the labour movement would continue to push for their rights.
The dispute is being pursued by the Hotel and Personal Services Senior Staff Association, an affiliate of the TUC, and the National Union of Hotels and Personal Services Employees, affiliated with the NLC.
The National President of HPSSA, William Adegbe, alleged that the dispute was part of a broader pattern of resistance to union activities at hotels associated with the current ownership.
Adegbe claimed that union activities at the Abuja hotel were discouraged after a change in ownership following the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also alleged that workers had limited access to conditions of service and freedom of association.
“They have established this place like a slave camp. Our members don’t have access to any form of conditions of service. Our members don’t have any right to any association, and that is against Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution,” Adegbe alleged.
He said both HPSSA and the National Union of Hotels and Personal Services Employees had written several letters to the management seeking meetings before escalating the matter to the TUC.
Adegbe also alleged that some workers who publicly opposed the unions had been intimidated by management.
“The few ones that they have intimidated this morning, as we are talking now, have written all their names,” he alleged, adding that some workers were allegedly communicating privately with the unions because they feared losing their jobs.
The conflicting positions have left the dispute centred on a fundamental question: whether the workers publicly rejecting unionisation represent the broader workforce or whether other employees are being prevented from freely joining labour unions.
While the unions insist that workers have a constitutional right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, the protesting employees maintain that they are satisfied with dealing directly with the hotel management.
The TUC said it remained open to dialogue with the hotel management but vowed to continue the picketing until its concerns over workers’ rights were addressed.
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