NLC Boss, Ajaero Describes Journalists Suffering, Hardship

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, has expressed readiness to collaborate with the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ on remuneration for its members.
The NLC boss described the living conditions of suffering the most indecent job conditions in Nigeria.
Comrade Joe Ajaero expressed displeasure over the fact that the NUJ, an affiliate of the NLC, has fallen backward in NLC affairs unlike what obtained s in the early days of his journalism career.
He said he would meet with leaders of the NUJ to discuss how to take steps to change the working, and living conditions of media practitioners in Nigeria.
“The NUJ is going backward. They are slacking in the affairs of NLC and I am not afraid of saying this. They have allowed the Guild of Editors to be at the forefront.
“The Guild are the managers and they cannot protect the interest of reporters. I don’t mean to open a debate between journalists being professionals or employees”.
Referring to the debate over journalism being a career or profession, as snag in the progress of the journalist, Ajaero said:
“If you are claiming to be professionals, you are undermining yourselves because 90 percent of your members earn a living through their employers.
“As professionals, do you have your chambers? Do you have your clinics? So, if we leave the employee aspect of our association and move into the professional aspects, then there is a problem.
“If we say we are professionals, yet our salaries are being paid or determined by one employer somewhere. What kind of professionals are we? You say you are professionals, yet you are suffering in silence and your salaries are not being paid.”
“The media are among the people that are poorly remunerated in Nigeria and I want to collaborate with the NUJ for us to set the machinery in motion, especially on the welfare of journalists, even on the issue of insurance. Do you know what happens to journalists daily?” he queried.
Stating how NLC and NUJ can collaborate, Comrade Joe Ajaero stated: “I want work with the NUJ to know those organizations that are owing journalists. Don’t tell me you are a professional and they are owing you and you tell NLC not to come.
“Don’t expect the Guild of Editors to do it for you. They cannot because they are editors and managers and cannot agitate for your welfare.”
He said editors as media managers cannot fight for the welfare of journalists as he called for proper placement of journalists.
“We are not trying to incite anybody but what is right must be done. So we must face the truth. Are we professionals? If I say I am not working for Organization A today, can I stand on my own?
“And how many of us can stand on our own and continue to exist? So we must decide whether we are employees or professionals. Until we address some of these issues, we may be more Catholic than the Pope.”
He decried the poor state of retired journalists.
“How can journalists be working for the welfare of others and suffering? Some of our colleagues have left service and we are trying to find out how they are fairing; we will not be happy at all because the conditions of most of them are terrible,” Ajaero lamented.