Flour Mills workers protest over poor welfare

Scores of aggrieved workers of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc staged a protest at the company’s premises in Apapa area of Lagos State on Tuesday over alleged poor remuneration by the company.

The protest, SHIPS & PORTS magazine reported, started at about 8a.m. at the entrance of the company on Wharf Road, Apapa, Lagos with the aggrieved workers carrying placards and singing solidarity songs.

The inscriptions on some of the placards read: “All FMN third-party workers say no to poor welfare and marginalization”, “What retirement benefit plan do you have for us?”, “Say no to modern-day slavery” and “Say no to bad management” among others.

One of the protesters, Ganiyu Azeez, said the management of Flour Mills has failed to increase their salaries for several years.

“We are Flour Mills workers. We are protesting because these people have been cheating us. They are paying salaries that are not corresponding to our effort at all. If you look at it now, all their products have increased in price. Flour now is going to N20,000; 10kg of semo is N5,500 in the market but salary still remains the same. There’s no increment. They are claiming to be feeding the nation but they are not feeding their workers. We workers are hungry,” Azeez said.

Another worker said, “After eight years of stagnation at a level; no increment, neither is their promotion. Even if we go to the bakery where we produce the bread to eat, you’ll call us thieves and chase us away like sheep without a shepherd. Enough is enough! We can’t take this anymore.”

An unidentified official of the company who addressed the workers tried to placate them to no avail.

The company is yet to issue an official statement on the protest.