Organised Labour has sent word to Nigerian workers to take their hands off the plough and commence a nationwide indefinite strike effective midnight Monday.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, (TUC) the two key components of Organised Labour, are sounding the bell for a strike, in apparent defiance of a court injunction by the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja, restraining both parties and their affiliates from embarking on an industrial action.
The strike is to protest a well publicised physical assault on NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and others in Owerri, Imo State, on November 1 and pending unresolved demands by Labour on the Federal Government, following the removal of petrol subsidy and the free float of the naira by President Bola Tinubu at his inauguration into office on May 29 (2023).
Both decisions by Tinubu have been widely acclaimed by economist and others as steps in the right direction and capable of repairing the Nigerian economy in the medium to long term.
The same economists say however, that the decisions come with a crunching burden upon the generality of Nigerians in the immediate and would require significant buffers or palliatives to ease the strain.
Organised Labour had on November 7, resolved to declare a nationwide strike by Tuesday, November 14, if their demands were not met.
Some industry watchers say that NLC president, Joe Ajaero, is in this instance, using the power of his office, being the mass mobilization of workers, to exact vengeance upon government, following an alleged assault upon his person in Owerri, on November 1.
Labour sources however contend that there were glaring and well known pains and contentions on the part of Nigerian workers and promises made by the Federal Government, most with clearly stated timelines, all still pending and unresolved.
Matters in contention between Organised Labour and the Federal Government include the purported case of 11,000 ghost employees, unsettled gratuities, non-compliance of N30,000 minimum wage act, and declaration of 10,000 pensioners as ghost retirees.
Ajaero was reported to have been assaulted in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on November 1, when he led a labour march in the state to demand that the state government comply with certain welfare issues concerning workers there.
Ajaero and others blamed the administration of Hope Uzodinma, the governor of Imo State, for purportedly sponsoring the attack.
