What is going On?..Lacasera Company Workers Protest Over The Sacking Of 700 Workers

All this Indian companies will never stop the exploitation of their Nigerian workers...imagine Lacasera Company Plc...waking up one day and sacked 700 Nigerian workers just like that..well it happened in Lagos on Monday when the workers arrived at the company premises in Amuwo Odofin Industrial Estate, Mile 2, Lagos, and found the gate locked against them and a notice of disengagement pasted at the entrance.

The notice dated September 14 and addressed to all members of staff, stated that “as a result of the unwarranted invasion of our business premises on September 11, we cannot guarantee the well-being of our employees from hired hoodlums and their collaborators.

“As a result of this unprovoked act of vandalism, we are unable to continue operations under this circumstance. “Unfortunately we regret to inform all our members of staff of their immediate disengagement.” But the workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees, condemned the act, noting that some of them had worked for between five and 15 years.

The Head of Education Department in NUFBTE, Mr. Mike Olarenwaju, who spoke for the workers, said that for 12 years the company had denied workers the right to unionise. Olarenwaju said that when an in-house union was about to be inaugurated, the management of the company sacked the chairman, which made the NUFBTE officials to visit the company on September 11 to address the workers.

“We were surprised today (Monday) that the company locked the gate and sacked the workers. “Meanwhile, the case between the workers and the company over unionisation is currently at the National Industrial Court.’’ He said that until the workers were re-absorbed, the union would continue to picket the company.

The state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Idowu Adelakun, said that the act of calling labour officials hoodlums was wrong and vowed that labour would not allow the company to function until the matter was resolved. Lacasera is a beverage company owned by Indians which started operations in Nigeria in year 2000.