The fate of the American workforce remains unclear several hours after the Federal Government’s long discussion with organized labor.
According to SAREWA HAUSA, the meeting between the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, began at 2 pm on Sunday in an effort to prevent a statewide strike on October 3.
The meeting took place in Abuja at the presidential villa known as Aso Rock.
The unions didn’t show up to another meeting the government arranged three days earlier.
On the other hand, on Sunday, a delegation from the Federal Government led by Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, met with officials from the two major workers’ unions.
Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy; Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation; Simon Lalong, Minister of Labor and Employment; Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labor; Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning; Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation; Doris Uzoka-An, Minister of Industry, Trade, and
Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC), was joined by Tommy Etim Okon, vice president of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Emma Ugboaja, general secretary of the NLC, and Nuhu Toro, general secretary of the TUC.
Virtual attendees included Kwara State Governor Abdulrazak Abdulrahman, who also serves as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), and Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun.
President Tinubu had previously offered a 25% salary raise to junior federal officials for a period of six months in a countrywide broadcast to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the country’s independence.
On the other hand, the meeting on Sunday increased the salary to N35,000 and made it applicable to all government employees.
After consulting with President Tinubu, the Federal Government has announced N35,000 only as a provisional wage increment for all treasury-paid federal government workers for six months, according to a statement signed by Mallam Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation.
The elimination of the PMS subsidy has caused public transportation problems, but the federal government has pledged to speed up the provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to alleviate the situation.
Funding for startups and small businesses is a priority for the federal government.
Diesel will be exempt from value-added tax for the next six months.
From October through December of 2023, the federal government would distribute N75,000 ($25,000 a month) to 15 million households.
The minister issued a statement urging workers to abandon their strike plans, saying, “the issues in dispute can only be resolved when workers are at work and not when they are on strike.”
Furthermore, he mentioned that “Labor Unions argued for higher wage award and the Federal Government Team promised to present Labour’s request to President Bola Tinubu for further consideration.”
All potential government interventions to mitigate the impact of ending gasoline subsidies will be considered, and a subcommittee will be formed to iron out the implementation specifics.
The dispute between the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State has persisted for some time, and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, who was unable to attend in person but promised to do so through video call, has made good on that promise.
For the time being, “NLC and TUC will consider the offers by the Federal Government with a view to suspending the planned strike to allow for further consultations on the implementation of the resolutions above.”
After the meeting, NLC Chairman Ajaero did not take a firm stance on where the union stands.
“I don’t have much to add to what the Chief of Staff has said,” he remarked. We’ve been holding meetings and going through nearly every detail of the government promissory notes and figuring out how to make them practical.
Then we’ll take those assurances to our donor organs; of course you know these individuals can’t just get up, think about it, and decide to stop everything.
However, the organized labor’s next move is still up in the air, especially considering how the state chapters of the unions were left out of the resolutions.
One of the NLC’s state chairmen informed SAREWA HAUSA that state employees’ jobs were at jeopardy.
We were anticipating a comprehensive accord, not one that singled out government workers.
Where do we go from here? Some states have not yet implemented the N30,000 minimum wage, and many others have not made the necessary adjustments.
“Any compromise towards calling off the strike should be holistic, otherwise it makes no sense for those of us at the state level,” he said.
Meanwhile, it was learned that the unions would be holding a meeting this morning at 11 AM to make a decision on the strike.
One of the chapter chairs acknowledged the meeting’s existence to DAILY POST, saying, “As of yesterday (Sunday) when the information came to our platform, I just made a statement just like other colleagues, other state chairmen. Mr. President also informed us that he would be briefing us thoroughly at 11 a.m. today (Monday) and that we should not discuss the meeting’s outcome on the platform.
Everything we’ve seen or heard up until our NEC meeting with him and the NLC’s leadership at 11 a.m. today should be treated as hearsay.
I’m still basing what I’m about to tell you on data gleaned from social media. When we have our NEC meeting and have agreed on fundamental matters, it is helpful for me to speak from the right places.
Once we’ve wrapped up our meeting, I’ll have a better idea of what was discussed in yesterday’s NLC and FG meeting, or what the NLC plans to do in response to concerns raised by state and local governments.
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