Industrial action: Ahead Nov 6, Labour tells Nigerians to stockpile food

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has begun mobilisation of its members ahead the November 6 nationwide industrial action.

It also advised Nigerians to stockpile food items in the event that the Federal Government fails to initiate the process for a new minimum national wage.

This followed a statement on Wednesday by its president and general secretary, Ayuba Wabba, and Peter Ozo-Eson, after an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja.

However, the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has ruled out resumption of further negotiations by the tripartite committee.

The Director General-designate, Timothy Olawale, said what could be done at this point was to agree on a figure, believing that such could be achieved before the deadline.

Labour condemned the ‘no work, no pay’ clause in the Trade Disputes Act, noting that the right to strike was both human and trade union rights that could not be abridged, as it distinguishes a worker from a slave.

The NLC also enjoined government to uphold the principles of the rule of law, fairness, equity and justice in all dealings.

The union declared that the law would not deter it from embarking on strikes when necessary.

The organised labour urged workers to disregard government’s directive, stressing that they were already impoverished on account of backlog of salaries.

According to the NLC, government had allegedly designed a template to influence the tenure of some union executives, thus constituting interference in their internal affairs and contravening Articles 3, 4 and 8 of ILO Convention 87.