Joe Ajaero led labour union, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has clarified that the union is never interested in strike but in the right things being done by the government.
The joint union of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had on Thursday issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to fulfil the 16-point agreement made with the union since last year october.
The ultimatum had sparked condemnation from citizens, who accused the Labour unions for always issuing threats for strike actions.
Reacting to the condemnation, Head of International Relations of the NLC, Uchenna Ekwe, who was a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, said they only issue an ultimatum when all other avenues of reminder to the government has been exhausted.
“Usually people see when NLC starts putting warning and if you notice the comments, people will say we don’t want a strike, it will disrupt. Balancing all these, Let me make this clear, the NLC is actually never interested in a strike, we don’t want a strike; we want the right things to be done.” Ekwe said
“Before you see us issue a public ultimatum, there must have been many communications that are not meant public to the government system calling their attention to probably an agreement like in this case.”
According to him, the labour had reached an agreement with the government since last year October, adding that some items on the agreement have not received attention despite the efforts of the union to have them addressed.
He also dispelled the insinuations that Labour is playing to the gallery and trying to use its influence to quell agitations and protests in the country over hardship, arguing that the unions’ interest was solely for the benefit of Nigeria workers and citizens.
The organized labour in a statement signed by the leaders of the two labour unions, Joe Ajaero and Festus Usifo on Thursday, issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, starting from tomorrow February 9 to February 14, 2024, to fulfil its part of the understanding with the labour unions.
According to the statement, the union expressed sadness over the refusal of the government to meet the demands of the agreement over time, stating that it was a “blatant disregard for the principles of good faith, welfare and rights of Nigerian workers and Nigerians.”
