Drugfield Sacks Angry Protesters

Ayodeji Ake

Mixed reactions have trailed Drugfield Pharmaceutical’ decision to sack 19 workers who have allegedly rubbed the name of the organisation into mud during a protest.

The protest as observed by THISDAY has been going on for about a week as workers demanded bonuses and timely payment of salaries.

One of the members of the internal workers Union, who pleaded anonymity, lamented that the company has not been consistently paying salaries on time, and pays salaries in the middle of every new month.

He said the Union has met with the company’s executives to plead with them to endeavor to pay salaries on the last day of the month as the workers have responsibilities to meet.

“We do receive our salary late. The management pays our salary on the 15th and 17th of a new month for years. It has been happening for years. We decided to meet with the management and tendered our demand to the Deputy managing director (DMD) and we were able to reach an agreement. The meeting was fruitful because they paid our salary that very day. We also pleaded with the management that we want to get our salary on the last day of the month but they insisted. Which led to a disagreement.

“When it was November ending, we reminded them of our salaries but they sent a message to the workers that we will be receiving our salaries on the 15th, I mean the November salary but we all disagreed.

And when they didn’t comply, we protested. Nineteen people have been sacked because they took part in the protest and some confronted the management. And some of them were just sighted on camera and issued a sack letter,” the source said.

Another worker who also pleaded anonymity told THISDAY that the management has been unfair to their workers.

“The managing director is good to people outside but not good to people working for him. He is not treating us well. What we are saying is that working from the first day of the month, you should be guaranteed your salary. All we are demanding is for them to put an end to late salary payments. Another is the pension fund and they are not remitting, so we heard. We heard that the management is also owing the corporation that some of us who need a loan for one thing or the other cannot access any loan.“

When THISDAY reached out to one of the members of the management, Mr Kayode Afolayan, admitted late payment.

He explained the late payment was due to the socio-economic problem faced across the globe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “Everybody knows what’s happening in the country, especially the economy. Until COVID-19, all things were normal but when it came there were a lot of socio-economic problems. In the industry, which is pharmaceutical, almost 95 per cent of our raw materials are imported which means they are foreign exchange based. We know companies that shut down in the process. But throughout the period we maintained all operations and we paid salaries. We never owe anyone but what happened was a late salary payment.

“Boko Haram and banditry contributed difficulties because our key products that fetch us money are organics which predominate in the north and we couldn’t penetrate which also affected us. At a time, our salary stabilized at the middle of the month which means if we are paying on the 13th of this month we are equally paying on the 13th of next month.

“We told them we are paying November salaries in December but they disagreed even when we were not owing them. While the protest was on, we invited the police not to arrest anyone but to witness the protest and ensure no riot. The external labour union was here who begged on their behalf.

“They made a recording and shared it on social media telling our creditors that the company is not doing well. What we are doing because of foreign exchange, some of our creditors will sell us products and reschedule payment. But because of the videos they saw on social media, they called us saying that they want their money to be paid and they are no longer supplying us and the management sat down and picked those people and we sacked them.”