Bargaining for Survival

Abstract

"On Friday 21 May 1993, the Textile Workers’ House in Kaduna, the national headquarters of the textile union (NUTGTWN), was sacked by a vast crowd of angry men. Staff members were beaten up; the building was pelted with stones; vehicles, furniture and office equipment were wrecked and what could burn was burned. Two days later, the onslaught on the union office in Kaduna was repeated in Lagos. The industrial locations of Lagos are dispersed and the mobilizing began late at night in Isolo. The first group that arrived at the Ikeja regional headquarters of the union caused only light damage — mostly broken windows. When a second, larger and more agitated crowd arrived, they were dispersed with tear gas by the police (interviews with B. Isiguzoro, A.B. Dania, A.L.O. Shittu, J.B. Ojo, September 1993). Why were workers so angry? What were their grievances? Branch meetings had been held in the major factories in Kaduna the day before the riots to report on the recently concluded collective agreement for a major wage increase. In one factory, Unitex, a rumour went around that the union had cheated the workers: the employers, it was alleged, had in fact conceded as much as a 52 per cent increase, but only a 35 per cent increase had been passed on to the workers by the union officials, who allegedly had pocketed the difference. Had the workers really been cheated, or was it all a terrible misunderstanding? Had they been deceived and instigated to riot by outside forces, as claimed by union leaders? The textile union had a reputation as one of the best organized unions in the country, with a professional and progressive leadership which had shown great skill in fighting for workers’ causes both at the national and the sectoral level (Andrae and Beckman, 1991, 1992). Because of the union’s achievement, its General Secretary, Adams Oshiomhole, had for many years stood out as one of the most credible candidates for the presidency of the Nigeria Labour Congress. Why were the workers prepared to destroy their own buildings, the proud manifestations of union power and resourcefulness? Why were some even prepared to seek the blood of their acclaimed leaders? This essay is about what happened to Nigeria’s mighty textile industry and its workers during the sharp downturn of the economy that followed on the contraction of the world’s petroleum markets in the early 1980s — a downturn that has yet to be arrested."(pg 1)