The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has insisted on going ahead with a planned two-day nationwide warning strike scheduled to commence on Tuesday, September 5, despite pleas and overtures by President Bola Tinubu-led government.
The labour union had, last week, given notice of the warning strike over the hardship Nigerians have been facing since President Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy in his inaugural address to the nation on May 29, with the attendant hike in fuel price and cost of living.
While announcing the warning strike, the NLC
listed several areas where a majority of Nigerian masses had had untold hardship, as well as the delay in providing palliatives to cushion the effects as promised by the government.
Following the announcement made by the NLC through its President, Joe Ajaero, after a meeting of the Executive Council of the body on Thursday, the new Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, in a statement through the Director, Press and Public Relations, Department of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, called on the union to shelve the strike and give the Federal Government time to look into their grievances and address their concerns.
But in a press release on Sunday, the Labour Congress reiterated its position on going ahead with the strike, citing insincerity on the part of government on past negotiations, and failure to meet the demands of labour.
The NLC said so far, “52 affiliates across the country have stepped up mobilisation for a total shutdown”, directing their members to “commence withdrawal of services over Federal Government’s failure to establish essential structures to address sufferings and hardship in the country.”
Ajaero insisted that the warning strike would hold as scheduled without the drama of last-minute suspension as often experienced in the past.
“The warning strike is necessitated as a result of government’s deliberate neglect and disregard to engage relevant stakeholders through the channel of social dialogue,” he said.
“The Federal Government refused to engage and reach an agreement with organised labour on critical issues on the consequences of the hike in prices of petroleum, which has unleashed massive suffering on Nigerian workers and the masses,” he added.