The CDWR described the sack of the workers as insensitive and anti-workers, in a period of economic crisis, adding that it will push the affected workers into more poverty and deepen the socio-economic problems they already face.
The PUNCH reports that the state government on December 5, 2023, laid off 450 workers of the state water corporation.
In a statement signed by its National Chairperson and the National Publicity Secretary, Rufus Olusesan and Chinedu Bosah respectively, on Sunday, CDWR demanded the reinstatement of the workers to full employment with all rights and benefits accruable to regularised workers in the civil service.
The statement read, “The sack of 450 Lagos State Water Corporation workers on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, in a period of economic crisis is insensitive and anti-workers. This mass sack will not only throw the affected workers into more poverty but also deepen the socio-economic problems they already face.
“Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights condemns the mass sack and demands the reinstatement of the 450 workers to full employment with all rights and benefits accruable to regularized workers in the civil service.”
It called on labour unions to demand the reinstatement of the sacked worked, urging them to embark on strike and protests if their demands are not met by the state government.
The statement added, “CDWR also calls the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service and Recreational Service Employees to engage the Lagos State Government as a means of demanding the reinstatement of the sacked workers and if need be employ mass actions including strike and protests.
“According to a report in the PUNCH newspaper published on Friday, December 8, 2023, many of the sacked workers had worked several years, including up to 10 years in service.
“In the same report, the Public Relations Officer of the Corporation, Kehinde Fashola, claimed that some of the workers breached the contract of agreement by staying in employment beyond two years.
‘The reason put forward by the Lagos State Government is as pedestrian as it is lame. Even if the contract states a duration, the reality is that the corporation needs more workers than it presently has, and that is indeed why the workers were hitherto allowed to stay beyond two years albeit as casuals.”
The group said it was unfortunate that the state government operates the same exploitative contract employment system that has pervaded the private sector.
It argued that the government brazenly violated labour laws and the rights of the affected workers by not regularising their employment but choosing to keep them as casuals.
“Given the importance of water in society and the gross failure of the Lagos State Government to deliver clean water to Lagosians, the government ought to invest massively in the corporation to expand capacity, employ more workers, and deliver potable water to more people on a mass scale. Rather than do this, the government is carrying out mass sacking under the guise of restructuring.
“It is the same Lagos State Government that spends billions of naira to buy expensive cars for a few privileged government officials but cannot invest in social services that will create jobs and provide clean water,” it added.
It also urged the labour unions to reject plans by the state government to privatise the corporation, saying, “The reality is that the Lagos State Government and the self-serving ruling elite do not prioritise the needs of the people, the same government is hell-bent on privatising the water corporation (selling it to cronies at rock-bottom price).
“So, as far as we are concerned the mass sack, which will be likely consolidated in future, is in preparation for the eventual privatisation agenda.
“We call on working people, labour and pro-masses organisations in Lagos to reject the planned privatisation of the water corporation and demand massive investment in the corporation as a means to rejuvenate it and at the same time expand its capacity to service more areas and Lagosians with clean water.”
