The meeting between the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to avoid a strike ended on Monday with no clear resolution to the union’s demands.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, met with the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and other officials in Abuja to try to prevent another strike by organized labor.
The meeting is scheduled to resume at a later time.
However, the minister is also scheduled to meet with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) leadership today.
The standoff arose as a result of Lalong’s invitation to the NLC for a meeting in light of the union’s planned statewide strike in response to the elimination of gasoline subsidies and the country’s suffering.
Earlier, the minister asked the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to discussions in order to avoid a two-day strike on September 5 and 6.
However, “only the TUC showed up for the meeting,” according to the government.
During the meeting on Monday, Lalong vowed to work with organized labor to answer labor union requests in an equitable and balanced manner.
He urged labor leaders to be practical and forthright in their negotiations.
The minister also expressed hope that the meeting will result in a decision of national importance.
In his reaction, NLC President Joe Ajaero stated that his team was attending the conference with mixed feelings, hoping to find out whether “something will happen or not,” as previous comparable sessions had failed to produce a favorable outcome.
He went on to say that the previous strikes mentioned by the minister were a result of the discontent Nigerian workers felt as a result of the difficulty caused by the reduction of gasoline subsidies.
Despite a series of meetings, he claims that none of the agreements with the Federal Government were addressed.
Ajaero also strongly denounced the invasion of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) headquarters, which resulted in the arrest and detention of some of the union’s leaders.
That move, he claims, is sufficient for the NLC to go ahead with their planned strike.
