NLC THREATENS TO BOYCOTT MEETING WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IF MINISTER OF LABOUR ATTENDS
Written by Tunde Adeyemi on October 30, 2023
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has threatened to boycott this Monday’s scheduled meeting with the federal government.
The meeting is to review whether the agreement reached by the federal government with the Organised Labour on the fuel subsidy removal palliatives was met or not.
President of NLC, Joe Ajaero in the pronouncement while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja criticized Lalong for not being able to establish a cordial relationship with organised labour.
Labour unions and the government have been in negotiations over their planned industrial action owing to the removal of fuel subsidy should the Minister of Labour and Employment Simon Lalong attend it.
Ajaero also threatened to mobilize its members to storm Imo State on Wednesday, November 1, accusing the government of violating the rights of the workers in the state.
Claiming Governor Hope Uzodimma neglected their welfare, Ajaero lamented that many of them have died because of the alleged lack of payment of their salaries.
He outlined some of the infractions against workers by the Imo State Governor including the alleged refusal to implement previous agreements especially the accord reached on January 9, 2021, outstanding salary arrears of about 20 months, unjust declaration of workers as ghost workers, declaration of pensioners as ghost workers and unsettled gratuity arrears among others.
According to him, approximately 10,000 pensioners have been wrongly labelled as ghost pensioners resulting in over 22 months of unpaid pensions while about 11,000 workers have been branded by the Imo State Government as ghost workers.
The NLC President also lamented the non-compliance with the national minimum wage by the state government, claiming that Governor Uzodinma has resisted the use of social dialogue and collective bargaining to resolve the issues
