NLC Strike: Labour reconsiders its planned protests

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday, said it is reconsidering its planned protests fixed for tomorrow, Wednesday.

This followed the Tuesday resumed meeting held at the Presidential Villa between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) members and the Trade Union Congress ( TUC) on the one side and the Presidential Steering Committee, made up of the federal hover team.

The organized Labour had on Monday insisted on going ahead with its planned protest over the removal of petroleum subsidy.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, while speaking with State House Journalists after the meeting, insisted that the planned peaceful protest from Wednesday has not changed.

The leadership of the organized Labour, after another round of meetings of the Steering Committee on palliatives at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Monday, said they would continue with their protest plans as they expressed doubts over President Tinubu’s ability to implement strategies that will control inflation and gasoline prices arising from the unification of the exchange rate.

“By the time you have a single market, and you do not have anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import driven, then how are you going to control it? How will you control somebody exchanging dollars at about 900 (Naira)? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?

“How will you tell even NEPA today, with the cost of production, not to increase tariff? Even corn in the villages sold at N18,000 by February is now about 56,000. How are you going to control it?”

But speaking after meeting with the government officials on Tuesday, the General Secretary of the NLC, Emma Ugboaja, announced that the body would go back and consult with its members and come up with the final resolution, as it is the practice.

He disclosed that this followed the far-reaching measures announced by President Bola Tinubu during his nationwide broadcast on Monday.

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Ugboaja stated that the measures were short of what it expected, as it was not comprehensive enough.

President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, also speaking on the outcome of the meeting, backed the NLC position, adding, “We think, for example, that 3000 buses are not sufficient. By dividing 3000 by 37, you will see how many they would come up to. So it’s not enough; it is grossly inadequate.

“Then we also think that some of the measures put on the table are not far-reaching.

“So we will also demand what we think will do. So if we believe 30,000 or 40,000 buses could do it immediately, we’ll push it forward. Speaking on the planned protest, Osifo stated that the government had appealed to organized Labour to shelve the protest.

“Yes, they appealed that we should shelve the protest. We responded that we would go back this evening and have a conversation around that, and you will hear from us at the end of that conversation.”

At the meeting, the federal government team told members of the organized Labour to consider what the President has put on the table, which Osifo described as “more or less like a starting point, and it’s a baseline.”

“So we on our path also said yes that we would not be surprised if that is everything that will be put forward because we noted some gaps.

“We felt that the President has said that N1 trillion has been saved in the last two months. That is what has been proposed, but it is not far-reaching.
“For us, now, as part of the principle of negotiation, when anything is put on the table, you’ll accept but push for more. So on our path, we’ve said that what you put on the table is insufficient. It is not enough, and they can do more.

“Part of what we put forward was that we’ll look at those things that Mr President highlighted and some of the things they have also mentioned.”

Read also Minimum wage: NLC accuses the government of making empty promises.

Also, speaking on the proposed Minimum wage review, Osifo said the government could do more than the current N30,000 minimum wage.
“We felt the federal government could do so much above the minimum wage without much conversation. Because the Committee on the minimum wage has not been constituted. We want to be very clear on that. That Committee has not been formed.

“But what we have been advocating for on the path of Labour is wage award that doesn’t have much bureaucracy, that you should not have many issues around the law.

“Because the law that prescribed minimum wage review every five years and until you amend that, no other thing can kick in.

“But we said for the immediate, let the federal government come with wage award just like some state governments have announced that they will be paying 40,000 or 50,000. So they should do something like that.
“We have also heard some states saying that they will pay PMS allowance of XYZ amount.
“So those are the wage awards that we were thinking, and we are pushing the government to do.

The TUC President, who stated that “no agreement has been reached”, added that the organized Labour is taking the President’s declarations in his speech yesterday “as a baseline.”

“We believe strongly that the President and the state governments should do more.

“If you take your calculator, you check 3000 buses that will give you something around less than 100 per state, including the FCT, So we feel that it is not adequate. We feel that if the government said on their own that they have saved 1 trillion Naira, we can do much more.”