Workers of the Dangote Cement PLC on Thursday, were at the Lagos state house of assembly protesting their alleged non-payment of allowances and unlawful disengagement by the company.
The aggrieved Truck officers marched to the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex in Ikeja, displaying placards with inscriptions such as "Dangote pay our performance bonuses now", "Dangote Cement Plc is a slave camp", “Dangote should pay our salaries’’ and “NLC, please come to our aid” .
In a petition addressed to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, the protesters sought the intervention of the House.
The petition was dated March 2 and signed by Mr Ibrahim Abubakar and Mr Francis Nwusulor, the Chairman and General Secretary of the forum respectively, It read in part: In April 2015, the company announced both in print and electronic media about a truck entrepreneurship scheme that seeks to empower graduates financially.
The scheme entailed eventual ownership of a truck by every successful employee (truck officer), who are able to cover 400,000km with truck.
The workers said that they reached an agreement with the management of the company to be paid a N60,000 monthly each, in addition to a performance bonus of up to N90,000 monthly.
According to them, each of the 850 sacked workers is entitled to a compensation of at least a month salary in lieu of notice.
The protesters demanded that the company’s management multiplies the salaries of each truck officer by the number of trucks managed by him in a month.
They also demanded that the management should meet their pension requirements in line with the 2004 Pension Scheme as amended.
We demand compensation/damages for causing us huge personal costs of relocation and other economic losses, they stated.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the leader of the protesters, Abubakar added: “We are here today to plead with the leadership of the Lagos state House of Assembly to intervene in our plight as our representatives.
We were unceremoniously kicked out of the company after working for eight months in a scheme.
We signed up for a job even though with a small pay.
At the end of the day, we were underpaid over the period and asked to go home without even one month salary lieu of notice.
They are owing us allowances; they are owing us bonuses for eight months, he told NAN.
Addressing the protesters, Obasa said that the Assembly would investigate the allegations.
Obasa, who was represented by Mr Bisi Yusuff, the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts (Local), said: “We will not listen to one party and leave the other.
We will call the management of Dangote Cement PLC to hear from them.
You need to exercise patience because the House is currently on recess to resume on March 28.“Once we resume, we will present your case.
We will ensure justice. Whosoever breaches labour law, law of contract as well as offer and acceptance law, will be brought to book.”
The Speaker, however, remarked that the owner of the company, Alhaji Aliko Dangote “is a respected business mogul and a father who listens.
He urged the protesters to be peaceful as their petition would be looked into and attended to as soon as possible.
DIRECTOR SOCIAL MEDIA
(FORUM OF DANGOTE TRUCK OFFICER)
