20101109
This Day

Abuja — The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) met with President Goodluck Jonathan last night but the meeting failed to reach a compromise to stop the warning strike that begins today.

The two unions were invited by the president for the meeting after he cut short his visit to Lagos State to avert the strike.

The unions mobilised the state chairmen who thronged the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, but at the end of the meeting at about 10pm, they said the strike would continue till 3pm today.

"We have met with the president and we are going back to our various organs which will meet by 3pm tomorrow (today). Meanwhile, the strike continues till 3pm when we will tell the nation what we have decided from this meeting," TUC President Peter Esele said.

The same position was echoed by the Chairman of the Strike Committee and the Acting Chairman of the NLC, Promise Adelusi, who explai-ned that by 3pm today, Labour would decide what to do next.

A union source had hinted THISDAY that the strike would still continue even before the commencement of the meeting but that because of the concern of the president, they might decide to back down by evening today.

Some who spoke off record said the Federal Government had no problem as it was already paying N17,000 and adding another N1,000 would not be a problem.

But he said their problem was the states which keep saying they do not have money.

"If the states know they don't have money they should stop trying to behave alike. Sometimes, a rich state will come to Abuja in a convoy of cars and the poor states will want to do the same and yet they come to tell us that there is no money. Anyway, by tomorrow (today) we shall know what to do," the source said.

The meeting, which started at 9.10 pm when the president entered the hall, lasted barely 40 minutes as they were through by 10pm.

NLC

Nigerian workers.

In attendance on the part of the government were Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Secretary to the Federal Government, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed; Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; and the Minister of Labour, Mr. Chukwuemeka Wogu.

The warning strike is preparatory to the indefinite strike that will follow should state governments refuse to implement the minimum wage agreement.

THISDAY gathered that the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO), which is coordinating the strike, was planning to mobilise Nigerian workers, students and traders for a mass rally across the country to kickstart the action.

The Lagos rally will take off from the secretariat of the NLC in Yaba by 8am to various parts of Lagos.

Also, a monitoring team had been put in place by organised labour to monitor and ensure compliance.