The meeting between the leadership of the National Assembly, the Executive Arm of government, the Organised Labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, to avert industrial action across the country has ended in deadlock after four hours deliberations.
The roundtable discussion initiated to avert the proposed national labour strike by the National Assembly leadership, the Executive Arm of government could not provide the desired results with all parties involved holding on to their stance before the deliberation kick-off.
The meeting was conveyed at the instance of the NASS leadership with regard to the proposed industrial action by the labour unions over the yet to be approved minimum wage for workers.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, who led the government delegation, pleaded with the labour leaders to shelve the strike considering the status of the country’s economy and the impact their actions would have on it.
Speaking after the failed meeting to force the organised labour unions to call off the proposed strike, the President of TUC, Festus Osifo, stated that they don’t have the powers to suspend the strike against the backdrop that there are organs that they must report to before a final decision could be taken.
Osifo said, “There was an appeal from the Senate President to call off the strike. On our part, we said we cannot sit here and just call off the strike because we need to report to our people. We will take all their pleas to our organs. For now, we don’t have the powers to call off the strike.”
