Deadlock follows FG’s meeting with Organised Labour 24 hours before a planned nationwide strike.

Leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) rejected the government’s offers at yesterday’s meeting, resulting in a stalemate.

However, today’s meeting will resume at 4 p.m.

 

President Bola Tinubu proposed a N25,000 provisional wage award for low-grade workers to mitigate the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy, but sources at the meeting told Vanguard that the labour leaders rejected the proposal.

 

Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, was informed by labour leaders that the government was threatening them with a court order and told to get ready to take them all to jail. The leaders of the labour movement declared, “This is not acceptable.”

 

Remember that in his nationwide broadcast for Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary, President Tinubu said, “Based on our talks with labour, business, and other stakeholders, we are introducing a provisional wage increment to enhance the federal minimum wage without causing undue inflation.”

 

”Every low-ranking employee will get an extra Twenty-Five Thousand Naira per month for the next six months.

 

Beginning this month, 15 million more low-income families will be able to benefit from the social safety net through increased cash transfer programmes.

 

However, it was gathered from reliable sources that Organised Labour rejected the N25,000 provisional wage award and demanded 200 per cent of the current minimum wage in its meeting with the federal government team at the Permanent Conference Room, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 

Labour also insisted that the temporary wage hike should apply to all employees for the full year before a new Minimum Wage Act is passed in the following year.

 

The labour leaders also pushed for an increase from the previous administration’s N5,000 per month in conditional cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable to N25,000 per month for 15 million vulnerable Nigerians.

 

The Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is leading the government’s delegation, called a break in the meeting after many hours of back-and-forth in order to discuss the new demands with the President.

 

It was revealed that Simon Lalong, minister of labour and employment, accompanied Gbajabiamila.

 

Tax cuts for the poor, a six-month exemption from VAT on diesel, and the availability of CNG and buses within the next two months were also issues brought up by the NLC and TUC leaders.

 

The meeting, which began at roughly 3.25 pm, adjourned at approximately 7.15 pm, and will resume at precisely 4 pm today.

 

There will be a meeting of Labour’s NEC to discuss government proposals today.

 

It was also reported that the National Executive Council (NEC) of the labour movement would be meeting today to brief its members on the government’s offers.

 

The NEC is expected to make a decision and issue a new directive to the government’s top officials.

 

After the meeting, however, the government team’s leader and Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila briefed the media and said that Tinubu had agreed to organised labor’s demand that the wage award be uniform.

 

He revealed, “We’ve been in a closed-door meeting with the government and labour side since three o’clock. That’s four meetings at four hours each.

 

Many concerns were resolved. Things that the average Nigerian worker is worried about. I have no idea how to start spinning them here. After four hours of discussion, however, I’m pleased to report that we’ve settled on a number of points that will ultimately benefit Nigeria’s workforce.

 

I think both the government and the labour movement have reached agreements on the wage bill, committees to increase salaries, compressed natural gas buses, and other issues.

 

We hope, believe, and pray that the strike will be called off tomorrow, when labour will presumably convene a meeting of its various branches and executive to present the agreements that have been reached.

 

So, I’d like to thank Labour once more for coming here on a nice Sunday when they could be spending time with their families to talk about issues that affect the working class. Many thanks for your help.

 

Deadlock at FG, NLC, and TUC meeting

 

A lot of people were complaining on Twitter that only low-income workers qualified for the temporary wage increase. We had a conversation with the president, and he confirmed that all groups of workers would be eligible for the wage increase.

 

Low-income, middle-income, and high-income are all artificial categories. I thought it was important enough to clarify tonight.

 

While explaining the N25,000 provisional wage award, he stated, “There was a lot of chatter on Twitter about the issue of low-income workers only falling into the category of the wage bill.”

 

To add to what the Chief of Staff said, NLC President Joe Ajaero said, “I don’t have much to say.” We’ve been having these meetings and going over just about every single issue and government promissory note.

 

We will investigate practical applications of these ideas. We’ll then make good on those pledges to our internal organs. People in this place obviously can’t just get up, do some reviewing, and decide to stop everything.

 

Like he (Gbajabiamila) said, we’re waiting for a new mandate from our organs to decide what to do. Thus, it’s not a hard problem.

 

Acting TUC President Tommy Etim Okon added, “We do hope that by tomorrow, we are going to meet with our organs.”

 

The government team reportedly wanted organised labour to announce a suspension of the indefinite strike, but organised labour declined, according to sources present at the meeting, which were reported by our correspondent.

 

Mallam Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national orientation, issued a statement after yesterday’s meeting saying, “The federal government has announced N25,000 only as provisional wage increment for all treasury-paid Federal Government workers for six months.”

 

To mitigate the impact on public transport caused by the elimination of the PMS subsidy, the federal government has pledged to expedite the delivery of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses.

 

Micro and small businesses can count on support from the federal government, which has promised to provide them with funding. For the next six months, diesel will be tax free.

 

From October through December of 2023, the federal government will provide N75,000, or N25,000 per month, to 15 million households.

 

It was decided at the meeting that “the issues in dispute can only be resolved when workers are at work and not when they are on strike,” according to the statement.

 

The Federal Government team said they would bring the unions’ request for higher wage awards up for discussion with President Bola Tinubu.

 

All potential government interventions to mitigate the impact of ending fuel subsidies will be considered, and a subcommittee will be formed to iron out the implementation details.

 

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who participated virtually, promised to resolve the lingering issue between the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State.

 

To further discuss how to put the above resolutions into action, the National Labour Committee and the Trades Union Congress will look over the federal government’s proposals.

 

Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila presided over yesterday’s meeting, which included Governor Abdulrazak Abdulrahman of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, who participated virtually.

 

It was reported that “Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu; Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uz; and Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong; Minister of State, Labour, Nkeiruka Onye

 

The Labour delegation included Nuhu Toro, the TUC General Secretary; Joe Ajaero, the Deputy President of the TUC; Dr. Tommy Etim Okon, the General Secretary of the NLC; Emma Ugboaja, the NLC Secretary; and many others.

 

While this is going on, Organised Labour has issued a directive to all of its state councils and affiliates to guarantee 100% strike compliance across the country.

 

To ensure the success of the indefinite nationwide strike, organised labour has also formed a strike zonal coordinating committee.

 

In a circular to all 36 state councils and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja instructed state councils to hold joint meetings with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and work together to ensure total compliance with the strike directive.

 

The circular titled “Indefinite nationwide strike” stated, “In furtherance to the notice of the indefinite nationwide strike scheduled to commence on Wednesday, October 3, 2023, all chairpersons of NLC state councils are kindly requested to take immediately the following steps to ensure a successful outcome.

 

To immediately circulate a notice to all affiliated unions and workers in their respective states regarding the strike’s compliance. To this end, they should double-check that their compliance teams are covering all of their bases, especially in areas that are crucial to the action’s success from a strategic standpoint.

 

Hold joint meetings with the TUC and collaborate to ensure full compliance with the action’s core principles; continue reporting on their progress to the national secretariat and platforms as the action gets underway.

 

Workers’ and people’s lives depend on the outcome of this action. If we are all committed and focused, we can make this happen. Nobody else can take care of this for us.

 

To work with state councils, affiliates, and other allies to effectively prosecute the strike, both the NLC and TUC have established zonal strike coordinating committees.

 

According to reports, the coordinating committees officially kicked off on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

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