Business
Forex crisis: 7up, WAMCO, Coke others to sack 3m
Leaders of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association, FOBTOB, have raised the alarm that the nation may loose three million jobs in the sector if government does not urgently review its foreign exchange (forex) policy.
The labour union stated this in Lagos on Wednesday at a press briefing, alleging that companies in the sector are on the verge of shutting down because of their inability to raise foreign exchange to import raw materials.
According to the union, leading companies in the sector have invited labour for discussion on retrenchment of workers.
These companies, FOBTOB said include Nigerian Flour Mills, Nigerian Breweries Limited, Guinness Plc, Nigerian Bottling Company, 7-UP Bottling Company Plc, Friesland Campina Wamco Plc.
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Calling on government to intervene to save the industry and millions of jobs, FOBTOB alleged that not less than 1,500 workers had been sacked in the last three months over the forex crisis.
According to FOBTOB President, Quadri Olaleye, employers in the sector had come up with different reasons to sack workers and that about 3000 workers were sacked between 2012 and 2015.
He said: “The current situation has reached a pathetic level, because it seems all the employers in our sector are in competition with each other on who can lay off the most workers.
“Every company is now calling for a downsizing of the workforce, and this time under the guise of lack of foreign exchange due to the Federal Government’s recent policy on foreign exchange.
“We are aware that not all the raw materials used in our industry can be sourced locally. Where they can be found, they are mostly not available in commercial quantity.
The union called on government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to take a second look at the policy on foreign exchange to avoid shutting down the companies in the sector.
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