BREAKING: NLC, TUC commence indefinite strike Tuesday

In a dramatic twist, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have thrown down the gauntlet, announcing an imminent indefinite strike set to erupt on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.

NEWSVERGE recalled that the labour bodies on October 2 announced the suspension of the planned strike which was scheduled to take off on October 3, after a meeting with the representatives of the federal government at the State House, on Monday.

The labour leaders reached the agreement to shelve the planned action in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) issued and signed by Joe Ajaero, NLC president, Festus Osifo, NUC president and representatives of the federal government, Simon Lalong, minister of labour and employment, at the end of the meeting.

NEWSVERGE gathered that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led Federal Government has failed to fulfil the approved N35,000 as the provisional wage increment for all categories of federal workers.

In the same vein, the strike action also to demand justice for the assault on the NLC president, Mr. Joe Ajaero, in Imo State.

According to the MoU signed by the federal government with the organized labour unions, it was agreed that the payment of N35,000 should commence from September “pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law”.

The parties also agreed that a minimum wage committee would be inaugurated within one month from the date of the agreement.

It was also agreed that the government would allocate N100 billion for the procurement of high-capacity compressed natural gas (CNG) buses for mass transit in Nigeria.

“Provisions are also being made for an initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme, whilst work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide. The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide,” the MoU reads.

On the issue of outstanding salaries and wages of tertiary Education workers in federal-owned educational institutions, they agreed that the matter should be referred to the ministry of labour and employment for further engagement.

They also agreed that a joint visitation would be made to the refineries to ascertain their rehabilitation status while all parties committed to henceforth abide by the dictates of social dialogue in all future engagements.

“This Memorandum shall be filed with the relevant Court of competent jurisdiction within one (1) week as consent judgment by the Federal,” the document concluded.