Strike: NLC, TUC Vow To Sue National Assembly

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Strike: NLC, TUC Vow To Sue National Assembly

The National Assembly is in perceived trouble as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have vowed to sue them for taking labour matters from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list, owing to perceived dwindling revenues accruing to the country.

Speaking on the matter in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, the NLC Chairman, Ayodeji Aluko and his counterpart in the TUC, Kolawle Olaiya, argued that such step if realizable would spell doom for the welfare of workers and derail the delivery of democracy to the populace.

Aluko, who condemned the National Assembly’s move, remarked that it would be counter-productive for the federal lawmakers to resort to anti-workers policy at this crucial period, when every sector of the nation’s economy is looking for attention.

“This policy will spell doom for the labour and for our democracy because the labour play critical roles in the delivery of the dividends of democracy to Nigerian citizens. I want to point out that some states are yet to comply with the N18,000 National Minimum Wage despite that it was on the exclusive list. This is an exploitative move against labour and we will resist it. The National Assembly must be wary of the fact that it is in their own interest as well to protect the rights of labour as citizens of the country for sustainable peace. But a situation whereby the country is made to witness industrial crisis everyday, may derail governance and that is where the policy will take us to,” Aluko said.

The NLC chairman further assured that the body, up to the national level would be pragmatic in dealing with the situation, noting that the union would not hesitate to embark on strike if that is the only solution to resolve this crisis,

Expressing optimism, the TUC boss disclosed that the National Assembly was being misguided by the action, alleged that the federal lawmakers were allegedly hiding under the nose-diving revenues accruing to the country’s coffers to execute evil against labour.

“My advice would be that we will enforce our fundamental rights in court. We have to challenge this obnoxious policy through litigation,” Olaiya said.