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  • TUC, NLC differ on modalities for planned strike

    TUC, NLC differ on modalities for planned strike

    The division between Labour unions over the planned indefinite strike widened yesterday.

    Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) leaders clashed on a live television programme over modalities for the action.

    The disagreement was triggered by a claim attributed to NLC President Joe Ajaero that the TUC could not back out of a strike without giving notice.

    The 21-day notice given by the Ajaero-led NLC to the Federal Government to call its members out on an indefinite strike expires tomorrow.

    The two-day warning strike by the NLC on September 5 and 6 was boycotted by the TUC, whose President, Festus Osifo, argued that there was no basis for such action when the Federal Government and Labour leaders were in talks.

    But yesterday, Ajaero said: “From what you can see from our last warning strike, you see that we can do it alone. We can work independently; we can work jointly when we agree.

    The TUC president said the Congress never served any notice to go on strike.

    He said the union gave the representatives of the Federal Government a week since they solicited more time for President Bola Tinubu to return from the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States.

    Osifo said: “Initially, they asked for two weeks, but we rejected it. Then, they came to one week. We will meet to review the situation and come up with a joint position.

    “For us in TUC, we feel that it is always better when we work together, when we synergise because governments all over the world are coming together. It will be too bad if we cannot come together. Whichever way we look at it, it is always better to work together.

    “In terms of organsied Labour being disorganised, I would agree to that claim because our aim is to ensure the masses are taken care of.”

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    The TUC leader dismissed insinuations that the government had broken the ranks of Labour because of the disagreement between the two Labour centres on the planned strike.

    Both organisations, Osifo noted, have same goal – to achieve the best for the country.

    He said: “If the government thinks it has broken the ranks of Labour, it should have a rethink because that is not correct. The TUC or NLC can call government to the table for dialogue.  Our goal is the same… to achieve the best for Nigeria.

    According to the TUC boss, the Congress was never consulted for strike and that it did not reach agreement with NLC.

    He said: “We looked at everything and felt it was not time to go on strike. We did not agree at any forum with the NLC to go on strike. We didn’t renege because there was no prior agreement. We did not back out of the strike we didn’t call.”

    Osifo explained that before announcing a strike, the protocol is for one union to reach out to the other for a conversation, leading to a joint strategy by the unions.

    The TUC president said: “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.

    “But in this case, I can authoritatively tell you that the 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.”

    Osifo said that enquiries on members’ group chats necessitated the action from the union’s leadership, including its National Administrative Council (NAC), Central Working Committee (CWC), and National Executive Council (NEC).

     He said: “Some of our officers were detailed to follow up, but there was no clear-cut response. In our 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.”

  • TUC demands quick action by Fed. Govt.

    TUC demands quick action by Fed. Govt.

    The  Trade Union Congress (TUC) yesterday stressed the importance of  the Federal Government hastening action on post-subsidy removal palliatives for workers.  

    The Congress said workers were getting more impatient due to hardship occasioned by petrol subsidy removal.  

      President of the congress,  Festus Osifo, stated this during a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong in Abuja.

    The meeting was a follow-up to that of  September 4 called by Lalong to address the demands of organised labour.

    Osifo, however, said the  TUC was hopeful that within the next two weeks, President Bola Tinubu would have done everything possible to prevent the threat of withdrawal of services by workers.

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    Director of  Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, said in a statement that Lalong appealed to the TUC to exercise more patience.   

    According to him, Lalong, who  was in company with  Minister of State, Nkeiruka Onyeajeocha, told the TUC that after their last meeting, he met with President Bola Tinubu to highlight some of the issues raised by the organised labour.

    He added that Tinubu gave further directives on issues at stake before he departed for the ongoing  United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States.

  • TUC demands quick action on post subsidy removal palliatives for workers

    TUC demands quick action on post subsidy removal palliatives for workers

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has asked the federal government to fasten work on post subsidy removal palliatives for federal workers. 

    The Congress told the government that workers were getting more inpatient due to hardship occasioned by the removal of subsidy. 

    The TUC president, Comrade Festus Osifo, stated this during a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong on Tuesday, September 19, in Abuja. 

    The meeting was a follow-up to the September 4 meeting called on the instance of the minister to address the demands of organised labour. 

    Osifo said workers were facing enormous pressures that are making life very difficult, which makes the leadership of TUC to have sleepless nights. 

    The TUC Ppesident said the Congress was hopeful that between the next two weeks, President Bola Tinubu would have done everything possible to arrive at a conclusion which the workers are eager to hear in order to douse the tension and threat for withdrawal of services. 

    Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun said this in a statement before the meeting went into a closed-door session.

    Read Also: TUC laments rising cost of living 

    “After the meeting, the TUC said it held fruitful discussions and hoped that the government will live up to its promises and responsibility for ensuring the welfare of workers and Nigerians in general,” the statement said. 

    Lalong said he called the meeting to brief the leadership of the TUC on the efforts made by the federal government to address their grievances.  

    The minister, in company of the Minister of State, Nkeiruka Onyeajeocha, told the TUC that after their last meeting, he met with President Bola Tinubu to highlight some of the issues raised by the organised labour. 

    He appealed to the TUC to exercise more patience, explaining that before the President left for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, he was fully briefed and gave further directives on implementation of issues put before him, particularly when he personally met with the labour leaders. 

    “Before the meeting went into a closed door session, the Minister thanked the TUC for accepting to come for the briefing, which showed that they are committed to the Nigerian project and are open to dialogue for greater industrial harmony,” the statement said.

    Some of the demands of Labour are: wage award, tax exemptions and allowances to public sector workers, provision of Compressed Natural Gas buses, release of modalities for the N70bn for Small and Medium Enterprises, release of officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers by the police, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria crisis in Lagos, among others. 

    Others are: immediate reversal of all anti-poor policies of the Federal Government, including the recent hike in PMS price, increase in public school fees, the release of the eight months withheld salaries of university teachers and workers as well as the increase in Value Added Tax (VAT). 

  • TUC laments rising cost of living

    TUC laments rising cost of living

    Lagos State Council of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to take steps to curb the rising cost of living as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy.

    TUC in a communiqué at the end of its two-day workshop with the theme: ’21st Century Trade Unionism: Laws, Conventions and International Best Practices’, decried the state of the economy, which it said was impacting negatively on all areas of national development.

    The communiqué was signed by Lagos TUC Council Chairman, Gbenga Ekundayo and Secretary, Abiodun Aladetan.

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    They said: “Underprivileged workers are now suffocating.”

    The union lamented that the N5 billion that the Federal Government gave states as palliatives had not yet been distributed.

    It urged the government to reduce the number of workdays, as it did with transport fares, saying it could take the shape of a shift system or a work-from-home arrangement.

  • TUC threatens strike over N30,000 minimum wage

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has threatened to go on strike over the non-implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage.

    It said about three months after the signing of the minimum wage into law, it is curious that it has not been implemented.

    The group accused the Federal Government of not showing enough commitment to the implementation of the wage.

    Speaking with The Nation, TUC President Comrade Quadri Olaleye said the entire process lacked transparency.

    According to him, the organised labour has been considerate enough by lowering its initial demand of increasing salaries of Grade Level (GL) 07 officers to 17  by 66.66 per cent as the rate at which the minimum wage was increased, yet the government is only offering 9.5 per cent for levels 07-14 officers and 5 per cent for GL 15-17.

    He said the adjustment, which was supposed to be negotiated openly in the spirit of collective bargaining, had not been done.

    He said: “As it stands, we may be forced to go to the trenches. We remain solidly behind the leadership of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council handling the negotiation on behalf of labour.”

    He urged the Federal Government to act fast and direct its representatives to return to the negotiating table with a more realistic mandate that would be beneficial to workers who have waited for almost a decade to get a pay raise.

    Olaleye expressed worry over the challenges facing  workers and the sector.

    He said: “We are disturbed that the enthusiasm that greeted the signing into law of the new national minimum wage of N30, 000 per month is fast turning into a nightmare. From the look of things, it appears the Federal Government is not committed to implementing the new wage going by the way its representatives in the Committee set up to negotiate the adjustment arising from the new minimum wage are handling the negotiation. To say the least, the entire process is not transparent.

    Olayeye threatened that  the Organised Labour might be compelled to go to the trenches, and assured that the congress remained behind the leadership of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council handling the negotiation for Labour.

    He, however, urged the government to act fast and direct its representatives to return to the negotiating table with a more realistic mandate that would be beneficial to workers who have had to wait for almost a decade to get something meaningful added to their emolument.

  • AfCTFA: TUC to monitor Fed Govt’s infrastructure

    Trade Union Congress (TUC) has assured members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) that it will put the Federal Government on track in infrastructural development to ensure that the country reaps the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

    Speaking at a media parley in Lagos, TUC President,  Comrade Quadri Olaleye, promised that the congress would engage Federal Government on infrastructural development, noting that infrastructure holds the key to the nation’s manufacturing sector’s participation in free trade.

    Olaleye explained that the arguments on whether Nigeria should sign the trade deal went on for over a year beacuase of poor infrastructure in the country.

    “As a congress, we personally have our concerns. Power is critical to manufacturing. We have population, but lack the basic infrastructure that is capable of making our industry thrive,” he said.

    The TUC chief stressed that the agreement would further kill the economy, if Nigeria remained a consuming nation.

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    “Our gains essentially depend on our ability to push our goods across borders and that is the only way the agreement can be fair to us. The energy sector has to be improved upon to boost productivity and lower cost of production, and also source raw materials locally. We must make free the trade agreement serve our interest,” he added.

    Olaleye said it had become imperative for Nigeria to expand its productive base and make efforts to create an environment that would support productive activities within the economy.

    On increasing the membership base of the TUC, which he said was one of his agenda, Olaleye promised to focus more on the informal sector and ensure that contract staff have standard arrangements with their employers.

    He said: “A very dangerous trend in our industries, especially the private sector, is casualisation of workers, while the public sectors are fond of being guilty of outsourcing.

    “A process where a business or government contracts a portion of its business or functions to a third party is not ideal for our fragile economy. The third party is typically a specialist in a particular field and based locally or in the country.

    “We have noted that outsourcing by various MDAs is simply a medium to siphon funds. Often, we noticed that fake expatriates are brought in with little or no capacity and yet were awarded contracts worth huge sums, even when workers could conveniently perform a similar task and even better.”

    He said the TUC would demand equitable laws, vigilant enforcement and ensure access to justice for workers.

  • Ekiti NLC, TUC disclaim fraud allegation

    The leaders of Organised labour in Ekiti State, yesterday denied the rumour that the state government had indicted some labour leaders for financial infraction allegedly committed during the immediate Fayose-led administration.

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigerian  Labour Congress(NLC), warned those they described as rebels within the labour family to desist from depreciating past leaders of the unions to promote selfish agenda.

    The unions added that the past chairmen of the NLC, Comrades Ade Adesanmi and his counterpart in TUC, Odunayo Adesoye, were not indicted for alleged corruption, contrary to the position being peddled by mischief makers.

    The former labour chiefs had been alleged of colluding with the Fayose administration to appropriate N6 million monthly running grants to themselves and another N6 million quarterly running grants for their meetings.

    It was said that the former union leaders were investigated by a Panel of Inquiry headed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Sunday Adebayo.

    At a press conference jointly addressed by the new Chairmen of NLC, Coms. Joshua Kolapo and TUC,  Sola Adigun, the duo, said it was saddening and unfortunate that a query issued to civil servants to explain some issues could be treated as an indictment.

     

    Kolapo, who described the negative propaganda being allegedly masterminded by some aggrieved members of the unions and their surreptitious moves to divide and weaken labour movements, said nothing would be spared to protect the integrity of the labour in the state.

    The TUC boss,  Adigun, added that the bodies will work hard to fortify labour centres in the state for workers and society at large not to suffer a serious backlash that would accompany a divided labour.

    “Our views that labour leaders should not be victimised was not an indication that we are supporting corruption.

    We frowned and condemned the leaked query,  since it didn’t emanate from government. The Labour family in Ekiti is one and united despite this”, he stated.

  • Minimum wage ‘ll give workers sense of belonging, says TUC

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said the new N30,000 minimum wage will give workers a sense of belonging.

    In a statement TUC commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Minimum Wage Bill into law.

    Its President, Bobboi Kaigama and Secretary-General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, said the new wage will in no small measure give workers a sense of belonging, saying the organised labour appreciated its approval, but that its gains have been eroded by inflation as prices of commodities have gone up when employees were yet to receive the new wage.

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    “The N30,000 monthly National Minimum Wage that we are asking for a family of six, amounts to less than N50 per meal per person. It is exclusive of utility bills, school fees and many others.

    “Given our extended family system as Africans, we are also expected to assist parents, in-laws, relations and friends, who have lost their jobs,” the TUC said.

    The union called on the 9th Assembly to prevail on governors to pay workers their salaries and pension to retirees as and when due to avoid crisis in the industrial sector, adding that it appreciated the government, the lawmakers and Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for seeing reason with workers.

  • TUC: N30, 000 minimum wage eroded by inflation

    Inflation has seriously affected the purchasing power of the N30, 000 National Minimum Wage recently approved by the Senate, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said.

    Speaking with The Nation, TUC President Comrade Bobboi Kaigama said though the organised labour appreciates the approval of the new wage, the prices of commodities have gone up even when employers have yet to commence payment of the new wage.

    He said: “The N30, 000 monthly national minimum wage that we are even asking for, to a family of six actually amounts to less than N50 per meal per person. It is exclusive of utility bills, and school fees, among others.

    “Given our extended family system as Africans, we are also expected to, once in a while, extend hands of fellowship to parents, in-laws, relations, and friends who have lost their jobs, brothers and people of the same faith.”

    Kaigama expressed gratitude to some lawmakers, who he said kept to their promise to give the wage bill supersonic attention whenever it was brought before them.

    “To us, it means we still have men and women with milk of kindness left in them,” he said

    He, however, called on the Ninth Assembly and well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on governors to pay workers their salaries and pension as and when due to avoid crisis in the industrial sector, adding that workers have endured enough.

    “We warned those who feel they cannot pay the new wage to stay away from politics. And for those claiming that it is only when Value Added Tax (VAT) is increased that the government can pay, we advise them to drop such evil counsel,” Kaigama said.

    The TUC president commended the Federal Government, the lawmakers and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for seeing reason with the workers.

  • Hamonise minimum wage for quick assent – TUC tells NASS

    Mr Bobboi Kaigama, the President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), on Monday called for quick hamonisation of the N30,000 national minimum wage bill to enable President Muhammadu Buhari assent to it.

    Kaigama spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on the implementation of the new minimum wage.

    NAN reports that the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress had urged the President to sign and implement the new wage before the end of the 8th National Assembly.

    The TUC president said that the House of Representatives and the Senate needed to harmonise the agreed sum and pass it to the President for his assent.

    ”The N30,000 figure is one, but the aspect of law might not be the same. There is the need to come together and harmonise, produce a clean copy and forward to Buhari to sign.

    ”If that is not done as soon as possible, it will be difficult for the President to sign and implement the agreed national minimum wage.

    ”The day Buhari signs the new minimum wage bill, it becomes a law effective from that day,” he said.

    The labour chief said that implementation would be seamless since the Federal Government had said that it included its provision in the budget, but might take a while in some states that had not included it in their budget.

    He urged the private sector not to delay its implementation as soon as the bill is enacted into law.

    The TUC president advised the government to look into the issues of punishment for minimum wage defaulters and frequent review of the process.

    He also said that Value Added Tax should not be tied to the implementation of the new wage, particularly in the public sector.

    ”VAT is paid by consumers; it is paid by the lower class, while the business conglomerates and corporate organisations don’t pay appropriate tax.

    ”It is unfair to tell workers who pays appropriate tax that you will tie VAT to minimum wage. The organised labour disagrees with the government,” he said.

    Kaigama said that labour would resist any plan to fund the new minimum wage through increase in VAT.