Organised Labour Strike: FG says ”We’re working tirelessly to avert workers’ strike”; pleads for suspension of planned industrial action
Nigeria’s government has promised to address the complaints of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to prevent it from going on strike.
The assurance was convened by the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen while appealing to the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC to shelve its planned strike scheduled to start next Wednesday, saying it was doing everything possible to address issues raised by the labour movement on the removal of fuel subsidy.
The appeal came against the backdrop of the strike notice announced by the labour movement giving the federal government a 7-day ultimatum to address what it described as anti-people policies or face industrial action.
Speaking after the Steering Committee meeting on Palliatives, Olu Verheijen, pleaded with labour to give the federal government more time to look into its grievances, rather than embark on industrial action.
She explained that the government was yet to roll out palliatives because it did not want to make mistakes, adding that the meeting with organised labour was productive.
However, the labour unions said they would still embark on the planned strike and mass protests should the government fail to meet its demands.
Recall that the NLC in a communiqué at the end of its Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting held Tuesday, July 25, at Labour House, Abuja, also demanded the immediate inauguration of the Presidential Steering Committee as agreed in their earlier engagements.
Again, in a similar trajectory, President Bola Tinubu is said to have appealed to the organised labour to give him more time to look into their grievances rather than embark on an industrial action.
This was disclosed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas after he led the House leadership to brief the President on the outcome of their engagement with the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which has declared a nationwide strike action.
Abbas, after the meeting, told State House correspondents that Tinubu said he was new in office and needed time to evaluate the issues that were raised by the workers over which he had yet to be briefed.
He maintained that the purpose of the visit to the Presidential villa on Wednesday was to intimate the President of the progress made with the doctor’s association.
The Speaker added that the House leadership invited the Association following their intention to go on strike, saying that the lawmakers succeeded in persuading the union to shelve the plan.
