Strike: NLC, TUC Suspend Nationwide Action For 30 Days
BY EDMOND ODOK – Following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Federal Government late on Monday, the Organised Labour unions have suspended their planned nationwide indefinite strike for the next 30 days.
This was contained in an agreement signed Monday by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja; as well as the TUC President, Festus Osifo, and Secretary General, Nuhu Toro.
Similarly, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Dr Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; and Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, appended their signatures on the three-page document on behalf of the government.
Given the distressing hardship over the fuel subsidy removal, the Labour Movement had directed all its affiliate member Unions across the country to mobilise and shut down the country over the government’s refusal to adhere to the seven points demand made by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to ameliorate the suffering of workers.
In a communique issued after the meeting attended by some Governors, Ministers as well as other top government functionaries and chaired by Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, the Organised Labour announced that a 30-day grace period for the strike to be on hold pending the implementation of the MoU.
The communiqué, which also mandated the Minister of Labour to look into the withheld salaries of university staff, further stated thus; “The NLC and TUC accept to suspend for 30 days the planned Indefinite Nationwide strike scheduled to begin, Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023.”
“The Federal Government grants a wage award of N35,000 (thirty-five thousand Naira) only to all Federal Government workers beginning from the month of September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.
“The issue of outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions is being referred to the Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement.”
Other issues captured in the communiqué are that a minimum wage committee shall be inaugurated within one month from the date of this agreement; the Federal Government to suspend collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Diesel for six months beginning from October, 2023; Federal Government to vote N100 billion for the provision of high capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria; Provisions are also being made for initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme, while work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide and the rollout seeks to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide.
Additionally, the Federal Government plans to implement various tax incentive measures for private sector and the general public.
These decisions come at the end of hours-long meeting between the Federal Government, NLC, and the TUC called on Monday to avert the strike.
