There is no end in sight on the warning strike declared by organised labour as government failed to convince the labour leaders to call off the ongoing industrial action at a meeting with labour leaders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday evening
The the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, met with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, and his team to work out a truce that would see the workers suspend the strike and return to work while negotiations resumed on Thursday as proposed by the federal government.
“We’ve just finished a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President and we did not say anything different. The strike continues tomorrow until further notice,” NLC General Secretary, Mr. Peter Ozo-Eson, told THISDAY last night and said the strike would continue as nothing new came out of the discussion.
Kyari told State House correspondents that the meeting was called to know how the negotiations that had already commenced on the minimum wage got stalled and was swift to explain that it was the process of arriving at the figures that stalled the negotiations.
“The purpose of this meeting is to know what led to the strike. It is the process of arriving that figure that got stalled,” he said.
Also speaking, Wabba said the meeting with the Chief of Staff was fruitful
Asked if the strike action would be called off following deliberations at the meeting, Wabba said the output of the meeting would be tabled before relevant organs of the organised labour before they could know the next line of action.
According to him, the federal government had made a promise to the group. Wabba however, failed to disclose the nature of the promise made by Kyari.
He said, “The Chief of Staff tried to give us detail of government position which we will have to go and convey to our members and then we can revert back to him.
“This is how far we have gone but clearly I think we have tried to share details of the information that pertain to the issue of the national minimum wage and how the ongoing negotiation was stalled and also the best way to get out of it.
“Government has given us their words which we will also go and communicate to our members and revert back to government.
“The strike as you are aware is called by a larger organ until we get their mandate before we can make any pronouncement on the strike.
“All the discussion we have had, we will communicate to our members and therefore it is the outcome of our meeting with our members that we will also communicate to government.”
“We will try to do that very shortly as soon as possible. As we get out of here we put our heads together and try to see how to get our organs informed.”
But a member of the delegation disclosed at the background that the strike would continue despite pleas from Kyari that it should be called off, saying the government had enough time to avert the strike but failed.
“The Chief of Staff was begging us to call off the strike but it is not possible now. If we do it, our members will lynch us.”
The industrial action, called to protest the sluggish approach to the workers demand for an upward review of minimum wage, was partially successful in several states across the country as workers, particularly those in public service shunned work.
Credit: ThisDay newspaper