The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) yesterday picketed Abuja Continental Hotel over alleged violations of workers’ rights and the management’s refusal to allow employees to unionise and engage in collective bargaining.
The union blocked the hotel’s entrance with several placards accusing the management of preventing the workers from exercising their fundamental right to freedom of association.
TUC secretary-general, Nuhu Toro, said the action followed the management’s failure to respond positively to efforts to resolve the dispute through dialogue.
According to Toro, the congress wrote to the hotel on 4th August requesting a meeting to find an amicable solution. Still, the management replied that it would not be available until the end of November 2026 due to ongoing renovations.
Toro described the response as unacceptable, arguing that workers’ rights could not be put on hold for several months due to renovations.
He said the TUC would sustain the picketing throughout the week and review the situation on Friday, stressing that the labour centre remained willing to engage in dialogue with management if it was prepared to negotiate in good faith.
Toro also rejected claims by some management staff that the hotel had not received correspondence from the union, saying copies of the letters and the management’s response had been shared with the police and the Department of State Services (DSS).
He further dismissed claims that workers were opposed to unionisation, saying those expressing such views might not represent the entire workforce.
He said, “Workers have been treated as enslaved people in Abuja Intercontinental. Their rights have been violated. We want a peaceful resolution, and that’s what we stand for.
“If they want to dialogue now, right now, we are ready to dialogue with them. The workers, our members in there, they are resolute. They are ready to join the union, and we will ensure that their rights are guaranteed.”
The National President of the Hotel and Personal Services Senior Staff Association (HAPSSA), Comrade William Adegbe, said the dispute involved both HAPSSA, an affiliate of TUC, and the National Union of Hotels and Personal Services Employees (NUHPSI), an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Adegbe said, “Even Continental in Lagos, the same thing that is happening in Abuja, is happening in Lagos. To go back a little to memory lane, at the Sheraton Hotel, these people took over; there was a union here.
But after COVID-19, these people took over as new investors, and they told their employees that unions are taboo. And they have established this place like a slave camp.
Their members don’t have access to any form of conditions of service. Their members do not have any right to any association, which is against Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution”.
Responding, one of the supervisors at the hotel, Samuel Esiakpoyere, said workers opposed the unionisation campaign, maintaining that management was doing its best. “You don’t have to stop the business. You don’t have to destroy everything because you want to make a point. It doesn’t work that way. We are saying no to unionisation,” Esiakpoyere said.
