The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: TUC

  • Ajaero Insists NLC Can Negotiate Labour Matters Without TUC

    Ajaero Insists NLC Can Negotiate Labour Matters Without TUC

    Precious Nwonu, Enugu

    The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has maintained that his union has the authority to negotiate independently with the Federal Government on workers’ welfare, rejecting claims that it must always act jointly with the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

    Ajaero stated this on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’, following a disagreement with TUC President Festus Osifo over the participation of both labour centres in negotiations with the government.

    The dispute comes amid discussions surrounding the Federal Government’s approval of a N70,000 transport allowance for workers across all levels for six months.

    Ajaero argued that while the TUC could participate alongside the NLC, it could not independently negotiate on behalf of workers under what he described as the International Labour Organisation’s principle of recognising the organisation representing the majority of workers.

    “TUC can negotiate along with NLC but NLC can negotiate alone based on the principle of most workers representatives of the ILO,” he said.

    He further claimed that the TUC had previously submitted its proposals independently ahead of an ILO conference, but the submission was returned and had to be processed through the NLC.

    The NLC president also dismissed suggestions that the Ministry of Labour or other government labour authorities would negotiate separately with the TUC.

    Responding to Osifo’s claim that the TUC represents a significant number of federal civil servants, Ajaero cited the Trade Union Amendment Act 2005 and Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees workers the right to belong to organisations of their choice.

    He maintained that union membership was voluntary and that workers had the freedom to decide which labour organisation to join.

    Ajaero also questioned the TUC’s representation in the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, claiming that only one of the eight union bodies in the council was affiliated with the TUC, while the remaining seven belonged to the NLC.

    He added that the TUC-affiliated union had submitted its authority to the joint council.

    On the N70,000 transport allowance, Ajaero explained that the agreement followed an ultimatum issued to the Federal Government by the NLC.

    He said the government requested four days to meet with labour leaders before negotiations resumed, during which the transport allowance proposal was discussed and agreed upon.

    The NLC president also stated that demands for a minimum wage adjustment required the establishment of a government negotiation committee and consultations involving labour representatives, government officials and employers.

  • Tinubu’s Democracy Day Broadcast: NLC says no agreement reached with FG on minimum wage

    Tinubu’s Democracy Day Broadcast: NLC says no agreement reached with FG on minimum wage

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s claims that an agreement has been reached on a new national minimum wage, insisting that its demand for a new national minimum wage remains N250,000.

    Speaking on Wednesday during his nationwide broadcast to mark Democracy Day, Tinubu said a consensus had been reached on the long-debated new minimum wage between the federal government and the organised labour.

    The president revealed that an executive bill would soon be sent to the National Assembly to formalise the new minimum wage agreement.

    He said, “In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised labour on a new national minimum wage.

    “We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.”

    But in a statement yesterday, the acting President of NLC, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, said there was no agreement reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage at the time negotiations ended on Friday, June 7, 2024.

    He said, “Our demand still remains N250,000 only, and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.”

    NLC said it had to raise the point for President Tinubu, Nigerians and stakeholders to be aware because it appeared that those who briefed him on the outcome of the tripartite negotiation did not tell him the true situation.

    The statement reads in part: “We reiterate that it will be extremely difficult for Nigerian workers to accept any national minimum wage figure that approximates to a starvation wage. We cannot be working and yet remain in abject poverty.

    “While the president may have accurately recounted parts of our democratic journey’s history, it is evident that he has been misinformed regarding the outcome of the wage negotiation process.

    “The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the president would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the federal government and the employers on the base figure for a national minimum wage nor on its other components.

    “We are, therefore, surprised at the submission of Mr President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC. There was none, and we must let the president, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix-up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage. We have also not seen a copy of the document submitted to him and will not accept any doctored document.”

    Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the federal government would not accept a minimum wage that would lead to mass retrenchment of workers, undermine the economy and jeopardise the welfare of about 200 million Nigerians.

    Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the opening of the 2024 Synod of the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, the minister said the government was not against an increase of wages for Nigerian workers, but that, “We keep on advocating for a realistic and sustainable wage system for the workers.

    “We want the labour unions to understand that the relief that Nigerians are expecting, and that they fully deserve, will not come only in the form of an increase in wages. It will also come as efforts to reduce the cost of living and to ensure that more money stays in the pockets of Nigerians.

    “And this is where programmes like the Presidential CNG Initiative come in. That programme alone, by replacing or complementing petrol usage with CNG, will cut transportation costs by as much as 50 per cent.”

    Daily Trust

  • Labour calls for a reduction in electricity bill by 40 percent

     

     

     

    There is a stalemate in the push for electricity tariffs reversal championed by Organised Labour.

     

    Labour is pushing for a 40 per cent reduction following September’s increase by the Federal Government.

     

    Labour’s argument is based on findings that gas, a major component of the Distribution Companies (Discos), should not be sold in dollars.

     

    According to Organised Labour, the product should be sold to Discos at $1.50, as against $2.50, even if it is to be sold in foreign currency.

     

    Organised Labour found that the Discos consume 70 per cent of the gas generated in the country, wondering why the government has to always increase tariff.

     

    A source close to the seven-man committee set up by the Federal Government faulted the continuous sale of gas to Discos in dollars.

     

    After an increase in electricity tariff in September last year, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayubba Wabba and that of the Trade Union Congress, Quadri Olaleye, threatened to embark on strike.

    After several hours of horse-trading, the proposed strike was suspended, with Labour and the Federal Government agreeing to set up a committee to review the increase.

    The committee submitted an interim report, which recommended a temporary suspension of the tariff.

     

    In January, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) issued an order to DisCos – signalling an increase in electricity tariff, but the move was suspended.

     

    However, a source close to the committee, who pleaded anonymity, said NERC has not stopped in its plans to push for an increase in tariff.

     

    The source, who is a Labour chieftain, accused the regulator of being in bed with both the DisCos and Generating Companies in the push for an increase in electricity tariff.

     

    The source said: “These guys are unanimous in the increase in tariff. NERC is supporting them (Discos and Gencos) but we are after NERC because the indices for the review are actually faulty and you can’t get a perfect tariff review based on a faulty premium.

     

    “By the time you dollarise gas, you are giving them (discos and gencos) gas at one dollar fifty cents and then electricity that consumes 70 per cent of gas generated in the country, instead of theirs to be down, they are giving them at two dollars fifty cents. That is what we discovered.

     

    “Even if you are to insist on giving it in dollars; which is wrong since our currency is naira, it should be brought down to industry standard – which is one dollar fifty cents. We are taking one dollar from it and that will constitute over 40 per cent reduction in tariff.

     

    “Even at that, for using 70 per cent (of the gas produced in the country), theirs should be lower because they consume the bulk of the gas we produce.”

    The source added: “Our position is that tariff should reduce. Labour is insisting on a minimum of one dollar fifty cents for gas; that is what we are selling to other gas users in the country.

    “Labour presented a minimum of one dollar fifty cents to the Federal Government team from our findings. If you do that you will have a further reduction of electricity by over 40 per cent.

     

    “We equally insisted that inflation and foreign exchange should be reviewed. Because if you don’t do that, all these things will change next month; there will be inflation next month (February) because they would want to equally increase.”

     

    Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, who is the Chairman of the committee, said the committee was still working and its outcome will be made public when it is ready.

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.thenationonlineng.net