Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to boycott Monday’s meeting with the federal government, meant to review the 15-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) it had signed with the government, if the Minister of Labour and Employment, Hon. Simon Lalong, would be in attendance.
NLC also vowed to go ahead with its protest in Owerri, the Imo State capital, scheduled to hold on Wednesday over an unresolved dispute with the state government on the sack of workers and unpaid salaries. It alleged that more workers had lost their lives to hunger in Imo State than those killed by unknown gunmen and insecurity.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, NLC President Joe Ajaero said organised labour had been invited to the State House, Abuja, by Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to review the report on the implementation of the agreement reached with labour on measures put in place to address the adverse effect of petrol subsidy removal.
Ajaero said, “Hopefully, we may meet tomorrow with the federal government to see whether the agreement with organised labour on the fuel subsidy removal palliatives were met or not.
“If that meeting is to hold, it will be without the Minister of Labour and Employment because we will not be part of any meeting with the federal government that the Minister of Labour and Employment will attend.
“You will recall that the decision we had on National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) was that all parties, including the police, should vacate the premises pending the resolution of the dispute, but that did not happen.
“Therefore, any meeting we will have with the federal government, the Minister of Labour and Employment will not be part of it.”
Ajaero accused the minister of going against the agreement on the crisis at NURTW by taking sides with a faction in the dispute.
NLC had earlier accused Lalong of supporting the group the labour movement described as an illegal faction of NURTW and encouraging them to conduct their own delegates’ conference, both zonally and nationally, in a bid to confer legitimacy on the group.
Based on the allegation, Ajaero said NLC believed that any meeting with the minister was a waste of time, as he appeared not to be in control of issues as far labour relations were concerned.
On the dispute with the Imo State government, Ajaero said NLC was deeply concerned about the persistent and egregious violations of the rights and privileges of workers by the state government.
He threatened that labour might be forced to make a political statement on the maltreatment of workers if the state government failed to resolve the dispute, adding that it may not hesitate to shut down the state on election day.
Ajaero stated, “Despite our repeated efforts to engage in constructive dialogue and reach amicable agreements, the Imo State government has become a habitual and serial breaker of these agreements, continuing to trample on the rights of workers in the state.
“As a result, we are left with no choice but to embark on mass protests and industrial actions beginning on (Wednesday), the 1st day of November, 2023 to demonstrate our outrage and stop the continuing violation of the rights and privileges of workers in the State.”
The NLC president accused the Imo State government of refusing to implement previous agreements reached with workers in the state. He said the state government had repeatedly reneged on agreements, most notably the accord reached on January 9, 2021, between the government and organised labour.
Ajaero listed the Imo State government’s infractions to include those regarding agreements on outstanding salary arrears; unjust declaration of workers as ghost workers; vandalism of NLC state secretariat; implementation of discriminatory pay; non-compliance with national minimum wage; and unsettled gratuity arrears.
The NLC president said some workers had been subjected to a staggering 20 months of unpaid salaries under the unfounded label of “ghost workers”.
He said, “Approximately, 11,000 hardworking individuals have been unjustly branded as ghost workers, their salaries diverted even while they diligently carried out their duties.
“The wanton destruction of the NLC state secretariat is a blatant attack on the rights of workers and a violation of the sanctity of their representative body.
“The introduction of discriminatory pay practices and the imposition of apartheid-like policies in determining monthly payments is an affront to fair labour practices.
“The government has failed to address the eight-year backlog of gratuity owed to retirees, showing a grave disregard for the rights of those who have dedicated their careers in service.”
Ajaero said the government had persistently shirked its duty to properly implement the N30, 000 National Minimum Wage, a critical safeguard for the economic well-being of workers.”
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
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