Organised Labour agree on nationwide indefinite strike from Oct. 3
Organised Labour has declared an indefinite industrial action from October 3, to drive home their calls to Federal Government to address the economic hardship in the country.
Leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and that of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had jointly agreed to embark on the strike action for the first time in over five months.
This followed a joint press briefing held, Tuesday, in Abuja.
The unions also asked their state chapters to mobilize for protests across the country.
The two labour unions also resolved their differences that made only NLC embark on a two-day warning strike without the participation of TUC.
According to the notice of meeting signed by the NLC Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, the meeting is holding virtually.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong has appealed to the NLC leadership to shelve the planned strike, assuring them that the Federal Government is determined to address the concerns raised.
The minister also noted that one of the major demands of the NLC in their last meeting has been met, which has to do with the release of the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Road Transport workers.
A statement signed by the spokesman of the spokesman of the ministry’s Olajide Oshundu, urged the workers’ unions to give the government a little more time to address other issues.
On Tuesday, September 5 and Wednesday 6, 2023, NLC embarked on a two-day warning strike to force the government to address the mass suffering of Nigerians, especially workers.
TUC President Festus Osifo had explained reasons why his group opted out of the September 5 and 6 two-day warning strike called by the NLC, saying it did not agree to participate in the first instance.
“The NLC will not take under our watch if we give a strike notice and then a union that didn’t give a strike notice says they are backing out of a strike that they didn’t call for.
“No, we never backed out from the strike we did not call,” he said.
Osifo explained that before announcing a strike, the protocol is for one union to reach out to the other for a conversation, leading to strategies between both.
“In that plan, there are a lot of things that are looked at. You define your clear-cut strategy; you define the timing. You define how you’re going to isolate the downtrodden Nigerians. All these things are defined before both parties will now come and announce a strike action,” the TUC president said.
“But in this case, I can authoritatively tell you that TUC was never contacted in any way. It was the same way Nigerians saw it in the media that there was a warning strike on so-and-so day. So, when we saw it, we were amazed.
“Some of our officers were detailed to follow up but there was no clear-cut response. In our organ meetings, we X-rayed the issues from the beginning to the end. We looked at the issues of the time and strategy; we looked at everything holistically.
“After looking at it, TUC felt that there was no time for TUC to go on strike. You will renege when there is a plan. So, if both parties agree to do something and one party now says, ‘No, I am no longer doing it,’ that is when you backtrack,” Osifo said.
