[size=13pt]‘We are not slaves' [/size]

BY GBENRO ADEOYE
May 17, 2011 01:58PM

On Monday, casual workers of the Nigerian Bottling Company Plc makers of Coca-Cola, protested against the company's working conditions at its Ikeja plant in Lagos."We come to work everyday,31 days a month and 12 months a year, with nothing to show for it," said Femi Martins, one of the workers.

"We do hard labour with sweat, as if we are prisoners and they expect us to survive with N400 a day. At the end of the year, we don't even get a bottle of coke as bonus for the year's work."

The protesters dropped their tools at the Plant located on Lateef Jakande road and demanded for improved salary and welfare, stating that they would no longer accept the N400 daily wage being paid to them.

‘No more slavery'
Bearing placards stating ‘No more N400 work per day', ‘we say no to slavery', the workers demanded for a new pay package of N45,000 monthly, which would translate to over 200percent of their current salary of N16,800.Workers who work on Weekends are entitled to an amount which they call ‘incentives'. Recently, the workers' weekend incentive was reduced to N200 from N350, in spite of claims of having more workload being pushed at them with the latest departure of some workers.


A worker who works as a stacker and identified himself as Samuel, said they used to be five in his unit, "but they have reduced us to three which has increased our workload, but instead of increasing our pay, they are cutting it. "Francis Olawoyin, a worker with two kids, said it has been tough as the family has had to rely
on his wife for "too many things".


"I have a child in senior secondary school one and another one in junior school three, but it's my wife who has been doing a lot," said Mr Olawoyin. "For me, I've only being working hard and earning very little."
Some of the workers who have worked for a long period of time also expressed their displeasure with the management for keeping them as casual staff all along.


Work at your own risk
As casual staff, they are not provided with the required safety gear, thus remaining exposed to work-related dangers, and are also paid lesser than their colleagues with permanent appointments.

Dan Emoga, who has worked as a casual staff for nine years, explained the risk of working without health insurance in an industrial environment, with its attendant risks.

Showing a deep scar which he claimed to have sustained at work, Mr Emoga said the company had refused to take any responsibility for it."The company said it was not their business since casual workers are not entitled to any health policy, so at the end of the day, I treated it myself, and yet, they refuse to provide us with safety gears," he said.


In a statement signed by the management and made available to NEXT, the company claimed that the workers were engaged "through service providers for the plant." It further stated that, "The company is currently having internal discussions about the situation.

It is our desire to resolve this matter swiftly, amicably and equitably. It is not appropriate to go into details while these discussions are continuing. However, further information will be provided at the earliest opportunity."


However, employee who wanted anonymity said engaging the casual workers through a third party removed some of the responsibilities, including the provision of safety gear, from his employer.

The official said, "The third party has stated on their (workers') contract to come with covered shoes because we realized that when we used to engage them directly, some would take some of these things and refuse to show up for work again. And the weekend incentive was reduced because he initial amount of N350 was a mistake, which has now been corrected."

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5701345-146/story.csp

Meanwhile, Coca Cola continues to grow stronger with increasing profits from the Nigerian Market:

Coca-Cola HBC Offers to Buy Rest of Nigeria Bottling

By Paul Tugwell - Dec 14, 2010 10:01 AM CT Tweet inShare0More
Business Exchange Buzz up! Digg Print Email Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. SA, the world’s second-largest bottler of Coke drinks, is offering 94 million euros ($125.8 million) to take full control of the Nigerian Bottling Company plc, or NBC.

Coca-Cola HBC, which has a 66.4 percent stake in NBC, is offering the other holders the money to cancel their shareholding in the Nigerian bottler, Athens-based Coca-Cola HBC said today in an e-mailed statement.

If approved by NBC’s other shareholders, the transaction will take place during the second quarter of 2011 and NBC would be delisted from the Nigerian Stock Exchange, according to the statement.

The proposed move will result in cost savings, reduce complexity and allow NBC to fully use the financial strength and resources of its parent, Coca-Cola HBC said.

The volume of cases shipped by Coca-Cola HBC rose 5 percent to 610.5 million euros in the third-quarter reflecting “strong volume performance” in “key markets” such as Nigeria, the company said Oct. 27.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tugwell in Athens at ptugwell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-14/coca-cola-hellenic-plans-to-acquire-stake-in-nigeria-bottling-co.html

The pay comes to about Naira 12,000 a month. No need DEMONIZING Coca-Cola when the Government has been slow on INCREASING base pay for a while now. Many other companies, including Government used to pay, and some still pay way less than that amount each day.

That's Capitalism for you.

How much should the be paid? $2.60 day sounds low, one can probably make more than that hustling on the street

I also dislike the slave analogy. If you don't like your job and salary, feel free to quit. It isn't as if someone is holding a gun to your head to make you stay

@Kobo, paying hard working folks N400 per day when you are reaping good profits from their labour is simply inexcusable.

Yes, Let us condemn the government for their poor efforts (especially when Bankole and Davis Mark take Millions of dollars home every year)  But at the same time we should not excuse Coca-Cola.

N400 per day is "slave wage"

#400 per day ? What is government doing about the useless attitude of these MNC ?

I don't believe this N400/day thing. It is probably base daily salary, and maybe they get some sort of production bonus on top.

Nobody will work in Nigeria, in Lagos for N400/day. You can make more money hustling on the street.

A blatant slavery
wickedness in the highiest degree.
Where is NLC?
where is the minister for labour?
Where are the senators?
NBC is making money from the sweats and toil of Nigeria. This is neo-colonialism

Kilode?!:

@Kobo, paying hard working folks N400 per day when you are reaping good profits from their labour is simply inexcusable.

Yes, Let us condemn the government for their poor efforts (especially when Bankole and Davis Mark take Millions of dollars home every year)  But at the same time we should not excuse Coca-Cola.

N400 per day is "slave wage"

Inexcusable by whose standard? Yours, or the Nigerian Government's?

These workers likely new what they would make from day one, and it is not like they cannot quit or complain to the right authorities about their pay(an acceptable move). Again I am not saying they should not complain or even quit but again, there is no point DEMONIZING a company here when the fault is not really that of the company but the Government that makes the situation possible.

Again, in Nigeria Naira 400 is NOT slave wage. It is still way above the former base pay(former since the bill was passed late march/early april) and so it is, unfortunately legal and so NOT SLAVE WAGE.  There are those who make about Naira 200 a day -- some of them employed by Government-- and are still not being paid slave wage at that since the minimum wage is about Naira 6500 or so.

Kobojunkie:

The pay comes to about Naira 12,000 a month. [b]No need DEMONIZING Coca-Cola [/b]when the Government has been slow on INCREASING base pay for a while now.  Many other companies, including Government used to pay, and some still pay way less than that amount each day.

Actually there is a need to demonize Coca-cola on this one  - what has government pay got to do with this? The rightful way of bringing in the government would be for not holding MNC in check.

Sun of god:

That's Capitalism for you.

Yeah and it needs control - if you leave the system uncurbed in extort from everything

Wtf. Nobody is pointing a gun at anyone's head to work there. They were told how much they'd be paid before they got hired, right? They agreed to the salary structure, right?

So what is all the b1tching about?

If they feel that they can earn a higher salary elsewhere, then they should quit. Simple as that.

It is a free market. . . everyone gets to sell their labor for as much as they can, and people try to buy labor for as cheaply as they can.

Labor is just like any other thing being sold/bought.

yeswecan:

Actually there is a need to demonize Coca-cola on this one  - what has government pay got to do with this? The rightful way of bringing in the government would be for not holding MNC in check.

Yeah and it needs control - if you leave the system uncurbed in extort from everything

There were numerous stories last year where Chinese workers started committing suicide at factories in China that were exploiting them. Mainly 'Western Conglomerates'.

They got noticed.

The companies in question immediately raised 'wages' to stop the negative publicity and address the workers concerns.

Unfortunately we 'Africans' love life and poverty too much.

Hence the exploitation will continue.

I'm not advocating suicide - I'm just pointing out that where there is a will - there is a way.

ekt_bear:

Wtf. Nobody is pointing a gun at anyone's head to work there. They were told how much they'd be paid before they got hired, right? They agreed to the salary structure, right?

So what is all the b1tching about?

If they feel that they can earn a higher salary elsewhere, then they should quit. Simple as that.

It is a free market. . . everyone gets to sell their labor for as much as they can, and people try to buy labor for as cheaply as they can.

Labor is just like any other thing being sold/bought.

Let me test your argument -   No need for trade union or minimum wage from the government because if people are willing to take 2k a month - which i am sure folks in Nigeria will be ready to take - then lets go for it. . .

No need for performance related pay - a company that earn billions can use its staff as long as there is an agreement - That's the absurdity of your position

yeswecan:

Let me test your argument -   No need for trade union or minimum wage from the government because if people are willing to take 2k a month - which i am sure folks in Nigeria will be ready to take - then lets go for it. . .

No need for performance related pay - a company that earn billions can use its staff as long as there is an agreement - That's the absurdity of your position

The company has an obligation to its shareholders to maximise profits - even if it means exploiting people.

That's Capitalism.

I've always been anti minimum wage. It makes no sense to me.

Trade unions are fine. Organize and strike if you want. But if the company then decides to let the strikers/unionists go and replaces them, then that is fine too.

yeswecan:

if people are willing to take 2k a month - which i am sure folks in Nigeria will be ready to take - then lets go for it. . .

What is wrong with that? No one will accept a wage worse than they can get elsewhere, right? So if I offer someone X/day as a salary, I'm beating whatever other offers they have.

And so if I'm beating the other options they have, then why are they b1tching? If you don't like my offer, then reject it and go work somewhere else.

Kobojunkie:

Inexcusable by whose standard? Yours, or the Nigerian Government's?

Basic fairness standards, just basic fairness.

I'm not demonizing Coca-cola, I'm not the one protesting either, those are their workers, and yes N400 is "slave wage" IMO.

Yes the Nigerian government pay "slave wages" too, actually, if you consider how much they pay clueless politicians and the fact that we have close to zero social services, our minimum wage in Naija is "Death Wage"

We can condemn both sides.

ekt_bear:

Wtf. Nobody is pointing a gun at anyone's head to work there. They were told how much they'd be paid before they got hired, right? They agreed to the salary structure, right?

So what is all the b1tching about?

If they feel that they can earn a higher salary elsewhere, then they should quit. Simple as that.

It is a free market. . . everyone gets to sell their labor for as much as they can, and people try to buy labor for as cheaply as they can.

Labor is just like any other thing being sold/bought.

Calm down bro, Freemarket capitalism ain't perfect, let's not poo poo on poor folks just because we want to champion "free market" values.

At the end of the day, increased wages means more money to spend on free market goods, right? so "free market" still benefits.

You kinda sound like Rush Limbaugh though  

Kilode,
Coca Cola Enterprises has NEVER done the right thing without being dragged kicking and screaming!  Those mofos were unrepentant during the anti-apartheid movement.  They absolutely could not be moved.  

Enough rhetoric!  Gimme my orders o jere; I'm in CocaCola City.  

OK.

I am a rice farmer. Every month I produce a unit of rice.

I search around looking for who wants to buy.

One guy offers me N1000, another N1100, another N2000.

So once a month for two years I sell to the guy for N2000. Now, eventually over time I don't like this price. I want to sell the crop for more than N2000.

The guy refuses to raise the buying price. Now, if I search around and find someone else willing to meet my new price of say N2500, then fine, I simply stop selling to him.

But if I cannot find anyone willing to pay more, then I'm in no position to b1tch about the price he is offering, am I? And I'm certainly in no position to demand more, or guilt-trip/force him into paying more, right?

Why is he obliged to pay me more money for the crop I'm selling than what others are willing to pay?

Minimum wages have never made sense to me. If you don't like the salary at your job and think you deserve more money but they are unwilling to pay it, then it should be easy for you to quit and find a higher-paying job. And if you are NOT able to do so, then it should tell you you aren't underpaid at all.

Sun of god:

The company has an obligation to its shareholders to maximise profits - even if it means exploiting people.

That's Capitalism.

There has to be a balance - pay have to reflect the level of profit. That's just the way it is. That's why oil companies pay  so well in Nigeria.

ekt_bear:

I've always been anti minimum wage. It makes no sense to me.

Trade unions are fine. Organize and strike if you want. But if the company then decides to let the strikers/unionists go and replaces them, then that is fine too.
What is wrong with that? No one will accept a wage worse than they can get elsewhere, right? So if I offer someone X/day as a salary, I'm beating whatever other offers they have.

And so if I'm beating the other options they have, then why are they b1tching? If you don't like my offer, then reject it and go work somewhere else.

How can you say trade unions are fine when you have already declared that it is peoples choice to take jobs no matter how dire the condition is - why trade unions then ?

If the world works the way you just described it to be - then i can only imagine . . there is no such thing as freemarket or capitalism  - folks should be careful trowing out those words.

isale_gan2:

Kilode,
Coca Cola Enterprises has NEVER done the right thing without being dragged kicking and screaming!  Those mofos were unrepentant during the anti-apartheid movement.  They absolutely could not be moved.  

Enough rhetoric!  Gimme my orders o jere; I'm in CocaCola City.  

LOL

Shhh, don't let them know the "Nigerian Workers Liberation Movement" has a secret weapon in their backyard, Let's see if they will play ball first. If they don't, then we will

ekt_bear:

OK.

I am a rice farmer. Every month I produce a unit of rice.

I search around looking for who wants to buy.

One guy offers me N1000, another N1100, another N2000.

So once a month for two years I sell to the guy for N2000. Now, eventually over time I don't like this price. I want to sell the crop for more than N2000.

The guy refuses to raise the buying price. Now, if I search around and find someone else willing to meet my new price of say N2500, then fine, I simply stop selling to him.

But if I cannot find anyone willing to pay more, then I'm in no position to b1tch about the price he is offering, am I? And I'm certainly in no position to demand more, or guilt-trip/force him into paying more, right?

Why is he obliged to pay me more money for the crop I'm selling than what others are willing to pay?

Minimum wages have never made sense to me. If you don't like the salary at your job and think you deserve more money but they are unwilling to pay it, then it should be easy for you to quit and find a higher-paying job. And if you are NOT able to do so, then it should tell you you aren't underpaid at all.

You keep making the error

yeswecan:

There has to be a balance - pay have to reflect the level of profit. That's just the way it is. That's why oil companies pay  so well in Nigeria.

No, it does not. Pay should reflect whatever the market price is. If my profit goes up, but the market price for your labor hasn't gone up, I'm under no obligation to pay you more. Put it this way. . . if my profit goes DOWN, but the market price for your labor hasn't gone down, then should I also pay you less?
Of course not; if I tried that you'd just quit and work somewhere else where you'd be paid your market price.

The market price of your labor is to some extent independent of how much profit the company makes using your labor.

How can you say trade unions are fine when you have already declared that it is peoples choice to take jobs no matter how dire the condition is - why trade unions then ?

People can organize and unionize if they want. I have no problems with that. If I want higher pay and I convince my co-workers to all unionize and strike, then that is perfectly acceptable as a strategy. Of course, the company in question is also free then to utilize tools available to it to protect itself.

ekt_bear:

No, it does not. Pay should reflect whatever the market price is. If my profit goes up, but the market price for your labor hasn't gone up, I'm under no obligation to pay you more. Put it this way. . . if my profit goes DOWN, but the market price for your labor hasn't gone down, then should I also pay you less?

The market price of your labor is to some extent independent of how much profit your labor makes.
People can organize and unionize if they want. I have no problems with that. If I want higher pay and I convince my co-workers to all unionize and strike, then that is perfectly acceptable as a strategy. Of course, the company in question is also free then to utilize tools available to it to protect itself.

Yes, pay does reflect market price - my specific point to you was that in a somewhat tacit way, pay reflect the financial profit weight of the company in question. It makes no sense for a company counting billions to dish out peanut to its staff, by the way they helped create the profit.

Of course it does. It isn't as if Coca-Cola is employing skilled labor. Unskilled labor in general doesn't command much salary.

If I use your unskilled labor to build a high-end luxury hotel that generates tons of revenue, the amount I should pay you should be different than if I used the same quantity of labor to build something unprofitable?

That makes no sense. . . X units of unskilled labor costs whatever it costs. Price shouldn't be dependent on how creative I am in turning that labor into profit.

ekt_bear:

OK.

I am a rice farmer. Every month I produce a unit of rice.

I search around looking for who wants to buy.

One guy offers me N1000, another N1100, another N2000.

So once a month for two years I sell to the guy for N2000. Now, eventually over time I don't like this price. I want to sell the crop for more than N2000.

The guy refuses to raise the buying price. Now, if I search around and find someone else willing to meet my new price of say N2500, then fine, I simply stop selling to him.

But if I cannot find anyone willing to pay more, then I'm in no position to b1tch about the price he is offering, am I? And I'm certainly in no position to demand more, or guilt-trip/force him into paying more, right?

Why is he obliged to pay me more money for the crop I'm selling than what others are willing to pay?

Minimum wages have never made sense to me. If you don't like the salary at your job and think you deserve more money but they are unwilling to pay it, then it should be easy for you to quit and find a higher-paying job. And if you are NOT able to do so, then it should tell you you aren't underpaid at all.

It's always a "great" day when a "free market" proponent comes out to compare human beings to commodity.

At the end of the day bro, we all can't get jobs anytime we want, we will always have poor people and some skills will be worthy of higher wages. But since we need people to flip burgers and pick up trash, the way we treat them and their living standards is be a reflection of how much we value ourselves.

Of course they should b1tch, everyone has a right to seek for something better than their present state. Agitation for higher wages should not be for investment bankers and Doctors alone. We all have a right to seek for better.

At least they are workers not criminals, they obviously add some value to the company.



EDIT: OK, I now see you agree in reponse to yeswecan that they have a right and should "b!tch" (complain, unionize, ask for more) that settles it for me then.

Kilode, it isn't the human being I'm comparing to the commodity. It is their LABOR. Labor is what they are selling. Their time, their effort.

If I am farming, I am converting my LABOR into RICE, am I not? And that rice eventually into CASH, yes?

If you are working, you are converting your labor directly into cash.

I think it would be fair to say that wages should be linked to:

Profitability - The more the company earns, the more they pay the employees
Inflation - Price of goods and services rise, then so should wages
Living costs - Wages to refelect local living costs?

this is why multi nationals like coca cola love setting up business in nigeria - you can pay staff next to nothing, labour laws are extremely lax or non existent and the unions are completely powerless- its a win win situation for coca cola and a complete loss for the nigerian workers!!! thats how capitalism works and since the nigerian govt couldnt give a damn how much their citizens are exploited these types of working conditions will be on the rise.

The other day i was reading about an indian company based in lagos that was treating its nigerian workers like cattle and paying them next to nothing for working long hours.

This is why all the big multinationals have "outsourced" to africa and asia where you can treat workers like crap without having to worry about the consequences.

@ekt, it's human labor, you cannot separate the human part from it, these are not some machines working on some job.

The "human factor" makes that example cruel IMO.

If we allow businesses to determine how much they pay us without b1tching simply because it will take a few change off their profit we will all still be working-serfs.

Kilode?!:


If we allow businesses to determine how much they pay us without b1tching simply because it will take a few change off their profit we will all still be working-serfs.

In this case, THE GOVERNMENT determines what businesses pay. This company, along with thousands of other companies out in Nigeria(Local and Foreign alike) are simply doing what they are allowed to do. Again there is no reason to demonize any particular company, or group in this except for the Government, and maybe the people who continue to vote the same ragamuffins back in office.

@Kilode: Nobody is pointing a gun at their head to continue working there! Unlike the days of slavery and indentured servitude, everyone has a CHOICE. If you don't like the pay and can find better elsewhere, then quit.

But the truth of the matter is that they won't quit. Because the job they are at is still better than anything else they are likely to find. And for everyone who quits, there will be 1000 Nigerians looking to take their job.

Look, a relative of mine is in the same situation. She doesn't like her job, feels she is underpaid, has been interviewing around at other places, but they all pay about the same salary.

It is what it is.