INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

The activities of the department for the period under review has been totally re-defined by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The various international programmes planned for the period have been either shelfed or adjusted.

The Congress would have by now hosted the executive meeting of the Quadrilateral, i.e. Nigeria Labour Congress, COSATU, Ghana-TUC and COTU Kenya, but international border closures prohibited its happening as planned, however discussion is ongoing for a possible Zoom meeting instead.

In place of the various international programmes, due to what is now known as the new normal various Zoom meetings have taken place. The Congress President and General Secretary have participated in countless number of these meetings.

The Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUP) also held a zoom meeting in place of the usual side meeting that usually takes place during the International Labour Conference.

The virtual meetings have helped to champion and fashion out global workers response to the covid-19 pandemic as it affects the World of Work.

The annual International Labour Conference which usually takes place around the end of May and early June was postponed

Two very important webinar meetings were held in the past week with Congress President being a key speaker in both events, that were viewed by over 8 million people across the world, the first being “Covid-19 and World of Work. A web-platform for the ILO Regional and Global Summit on Covid-19 and the World of Work- Build a Better Future of Work” (1-9 July 2020) and clearly one of the biggest events so far in the new normal. The Second being a webinar meeting on “SDGs Decade of Action: A New Social Contract for Recovery and Resilience”

National Assembly

The Congress has continued its interface with the National Assembly by attending several public hearings. The last was the proposed amendment of infectious diseases Act.

The Congress leadership also paid a visit to the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker and discussed a wide range of issues.

A similar visit to the leadership of the Senate is still been worked out as at the time of this report.