Policy Assessment of Casualization of Labour in Industries: A case Study of Niger Mills Company Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Casualization of labour traditionally connotes Iabour employment for a short period of time that is referred to as 'non-standard' or 'alternative work' arrangements. The study examined the practice of casualization of labour as a policy in Niger Mills Company, Calabar. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to conduct the study. A total of 150 employees participated in the study. The participants for key informants' were managers and employers of the company and were sampled purposively. Participants for individual structured interviews were sampled using snowball sampling technique and were the senior staff members of the company. Participants for the close-ended questionnaire were sampled randomly. Data collected through close-ended questionnaires were analyzed using the tatistical Package for Social ciences ( PSS) program. For qualitative data, matrices were created according to thematic content analyses. The responses were grouped in accordance with relevance to the themes.

Key findings were that Niger Mills Company observed labour standards only with respect to permanent staff. The sectional heads of the company handled the employment of casual employees. Employers of the company decide which job positions to accord their employees. On the basis of the findings the study arrived at the following conclusions; labour standards were applied to permanent employees only. The employer's decision on job placement for employees was because the Ministry of Labour and Productivity is yet to ratify employment for both categories. The practiced of casualization of labour in Niger Millis Company poses a challenge on socio-economie growth and development of employees. The push towards the practice of casualization in igeria industrial workforce is evidence of a continued effort by government and corporate elites to maximize profits at the expense of long-term job welfare policies, transparent governance, and shared economic development. For casual workers in Nigeria, the future depends on their capacity not just to stop the degradation of work, but to exert the strength necessary to promote developmental alternatives based on democracy, freedom of association, a clean environment and broad-based access to higher wages, good paying jobs, education, and health care for every worker.