By Peter Legacy
Comrade Bolum Martin Nwachukwu has said that the labour union of this time have subscribed to superior arguments in their negotiations, rather than needless fights.
Comrade Bolum, who is the Trade Union Congress Chairman of Delta State and the South South Region, as well as the Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria(ASCSN) Delta State and South South region as well as the National internal Auditor, emphasized this in an exclusive interview with NOL24 Television, in Asaba during the week. “We have been very lucky in Delta state. Right from the time of governor Okowa, he has always gone through the way of reasoning, negotiations and he listens. He has always met us half way. He has always met our demands. Now governor Sheriff Oborevwori is here, he is doing the same. He discusses with us, he listens to us, and we listen to him too, ” he said.
” This is a digital age, age of knowledge and information. According to Zebrudaya, I no gree I no gree, na em dey tear cloth and brings no result. We go with superior arguments. We do research, get our information, not minding the fact that we are management staff, I’m a director in the civil service. So, there is virtually nothing I don’t know about the operations of government , because we are the ones that run the government.
So, if I am going into negotiation, all I need is vital information. If I have all the knowledge, I discuss from the point of information, that gives you power. But if you don’t have information, you go there to say I disagree , ok you disagree, what do we do, you say I don’t know but I disagree. That era has passed, that is why there are learned people, intelligent people who have the knowledge. Management staff are the people who run the unions now. So they know we have information. It is easier to extract commitment from government, because we tell government, this is the situation, this is what the workers need and you can afford it. They say no we can’t, we say we know you can afford it. We know this we know that, if you do this and do this you can afford it. And they listen, because they are reasonable too.
But if you don’t have solutions, when you go into negotiations you are expected to go with solutions in hand. And you help the person say this is how you can achieve it. These people in government are not against their people being happy. One thing any government doesn’t want is labour unions going into strike. I can assure you that one thing that President Tinubu dreads, is strike and protest. You saw the last protest, he was not comfortable. No body in his right senses will be comfortable about that. So if they can avoid it by dialogue and negotiations, why not.
We have been very lucky in Delta state. Right from the time of governor Okowa, he has always gone through the way of reasoning, negotiations and he listens. He has always met us half way. He has always met our demands. Now governor Sheriff Oborevwori is here, he is doing the same. He discusses with us, he listens to us, and we listen to him too. When you go into a negotiation, you must not go with a hard line, you must go in to also listen to the other person. Because, you are partners in progress, we are not opponents. Labour leaders are not the opponents of government. We are working to make sure that governance is made easier. If we understand this principle, we don’t disagree.
When we disagree, we only disagree to agree. You listen to government and government listens to you and then we meet at the middle point, and there is result. So you win better when you negotiate, you argue as rational beings that you are. The government want to succeed, you want the government to take care of the workers, you want the workers to enjoy their government and also help the government succeed. So that has been the approach and it has been working and it has helped so far. We have been lucky. If you watch around now, government no longer fight with labour leaders, because we have discovered that when you discuss intelligently, they must listen to you.”