La Casera row: Court bars Indian company from firing Nigerian employees
Indian-owned La Casera Company Plc cannot fire its Nigerian workers, the National Industrial Court (NIC) has ruled.
La Casera announced the sacking of over 700 Nigerian employees, Monday, after workers demanded to join the National Union of Food Beverage, Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE).
The struggle to join the union has been going on for at least 12 years, reports say.
La Casera, allegedly fearing employees could demand better wages and working conditions if allowed to join NUFBTE, had reportedly blocked the move over time.
A move by some workers to join the union by force led to the reported sacking of hundreds of a vocal employee.
La Casera employees, many of whom protested the sacking and the union tussle last Friday, got to work on Monday to see a statement announcing their retrenchment pasted on the company’s gate.
In the statement; La Casera, which began operating in Nigeria in the year 2000, called the protesters “hoodlums” and “criminals.”
La Casera, in the statement, also announce it was shutting down the center of the protest – its Mile 2 Plant located along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos.
La Casera also said it was ending all its operations in Nigeria as it could no longer guarantee the safety of its workers. It alleged the protesters broke into a business environment.
The workers, who were not allowed into the company’s premises, embarked on another protest on Monday.
NUFBTE dragged La Casera to the NIC the following day.
“With this ruling, the action of the management, which through unsigned notice pasted on the gate of the company at the Amuwo Odofin Industrial Estate, Mile 2, a day earlier, terminating the employment of its staff, has been nullified,” the NIC ruled on Tuesday.
The statement of the ruling was made public on Friday.
The court said it will revisit the case on October 19.
Except the NIC gives a contrary decision on that date, the “sacked” workers remain lawful La Casera employees and so will continue to receive their meagre salaries.
