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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a fresh threat to commence a nationwide strike if the Federal Ministry of Justice failed to withdraw the lawsuit against organised labour.
Since the removal of fuel subsidies and foreign exchange rate reforms by President Bola Tinubu, the relationship between organised labour and the federal government has been nothing but frosty owing to the attendant hardships of those policies on Nigerians.
Workers staged protests across the country on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, to pressure the federal government into expediting the implementation of palliative measures to cushion the negative impact of subsidy removal.
However, the industrial action was suspended after the labour leadership met Tinubu in Aso Rock on Wednesday evening.
The President promised organised labour, among others, that the Port Harcourt refinery would be up and running by the end of the year.
NLC furious over fresh lawsuit
However, it appears the peace deal between organised labour and the federal government has been fractured, no thanks to the latest lawsuit from the Ministry of Justice.
The government accused labour of contempt of court over a subsisting order of the National Industrial Court (NIC) purportedly restraining labour from embarking on any industrial action.
In response, during its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, August 3, 2023, the NLC resolved to go on strike in 11 days in protest of the lawsuit against it.
In a statement he signed, the national president, Joe Ajaero, alleged that the Ministry and the NIC have continued to allow themselves to be used as agents of anti-democracy.
Highlighting the decisions of the NLC, Ajaero said the NEC resolved “to support and affirm the decision to suspend further protest on the nationwide mass protest; to commit to maintaining the required vigilance needed to hold government accountable on its assurances and governance in general; To commit to the terminal date of August 19, 2023, within which the issues around the Petroleum price hike will be agreed given the assurances of the President and the National Assembly.
“To go on total strike across the country any day labour leaders are summoned to court by the government through the NICN. To demand the immediate withdrawal of this litigious terrorism by the Federal Ministry of Justice before the end of work Friday, the 11th of August, 2023.
“To embark on a nationwide comprehensive strike beginning Monday, 14th of August, 2023 if this contemptuous court summons is not withdrawn by whosoever initiated it.”