The adoption of a recommendation on quality apprenticeships as a new labor standard emerged as one of the outcomes of the just concluded 111th International Labour Conference (ILC) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
The primary objective is to provide support for ‘opportunities for people of all ages to skill, reskill and upskill continuously’ amidst the volatile landscape of swiftly evolving labor markets.
The recommendation offers a precise illustration of apprenticeships, outlines ambitious benchmarks for high-quality apprenticeship programs, and includes provisions for apprentices’ rights and safeguarding.
Engaging in a thought-provoking dialogue with Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), elucidated on insights into the multifaceted landscape of apprenticeship culture, the essence of safeguarding job security, the prevalence of unjust employment practices, thereby indicting the Federal Government, primarily through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, for its indisputable role in fostering the distressing upswing of casualization, worker outsourcing, and an array of other indecent employment practices.
His words: ‘Apprenticeship, especially in the South East area is as old as life. Up till tomorrow, you cannot enter any workshop or similar trade anywhere in the South East without seeing an apprentice.’
‘Conventionally, even when they don’t have any written agreements after they serve the owners of the businesses, the owners of the businesses take care of them. The owners give apprentices stipends while they are serving and when they finish, the owners of the businesses settle them.’
‘However, of late we have started witnessing a situation where they will serve for some years and they are left unsettled, thereby creating problems for their parents.’
‘So apprenticeship is a practice that is traditional in our institutions. However, the ILO’s idea is the payment of stipends during apprenticeship and having them unionised. We were on the same page with employers on this, but when it came to the issue of unionizing those on apprenticeship, employers suddenly changed.’
‘Those apprentices have the right to belong to the union, how it will work, and how it is structured. These are parts of details that could be discussed through social dialogue.’
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‘The issue of job protection is sad because there are even no jobs. So, what are we protecting? Countries like ours have to capture the number of people that are within the unemployment brackets and underemployment brackets. A lot of people in Nigeria are underemployed. In the absence of Social Security or social safety, you have a lot of people who are unemployed and you are talking about job protection. It is a big problem that we are in.’
‘It is the same with the issue of casualization and outsourcing. The Ministry of Labour does not seem to have an answer to this. Rather, the Ministry of Labour in Nigeria is even trying to get unions to sign an agreement with employers, legalizing casualization. Those that are casualised or outsourced should and must belong to Union. How long will they remain as casual or outsourced workers?’
‘To worsen the matter, within a period, probably after every two years or even one year, they disengage these casuals and bring in another sect of casuals. It is something that we will have to look at as a national policy and ensure that somebody cannot be outsourced forever. Somebody cannot be a casual worker forever. So we need a new direction towards it.’
Although the principles outlined by the ILO resonate with the objectives of Nigerian employers, the conversation took a different turn when it came to the crucial matter of unionising apprentices.
Africa Digital News, New York
