The industrial disputes between the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the federal government appears not over yet if reports are anything to go by.
On Tuesday, the organized labour in the country under the aegis of NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, called off their protests against the removal of petrol subsidy after President Bola Tinubu met with their leaders at the presidential villa.
The president appealed to the workers to call off the nationwide protest promising to look into their demands, which include the repair of the nation’s four refineries, increase in workers’ salaries, and provision of palliatives to Nigerians to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal, amongst others.
But barely two days after organized labour shelved the strike, they have issued a fresh strike notice after they got wind of a plan by the federal government to charge them to court for contempt.
The next strike, according to them, will commence on August 14 if the federal fails to withdraw the case against them.
Recall that the federal government had warned NLC and TUC that embarking on strike this week will be in contempt of last month’s order by the National Industrial Court, NIC, stopping the unions from going on strike.
The order followed a suit filed by the federal government against the unions at the NIC over the May 29 removal of fuel subsidy by President Tinubu.
Reacting to the contempt suit filed on Wednesday by the federal, the NLC threatened to down tools if the application is not withdrawn immediately.
Joe Ajaero, NLC President, in a statement on Thursday, said the Ministry of Justice and NIC have become anti-democratic forces in the country.
The labour said they were surprised by the decision of the Ministry of Justice to sue the union for contempt after they called off the protest due to the intervention of the president, warning that the government has 11 days to withdraw the suit.
Ajaero said the union shelved the strike to give the federal government enough time to implement the promises it made to the workers, but are now surprised about the line that the government has taken.
Due to the recent turn of events, the NLC has now decided “To go on total strike across the country any day labour leaders are summoned to court by the government through the NICN 5; To demand the immediate withdrawal of this litigious terrorism by the Federal Ministry of Justice before the end of work Friday, the 11th of August, 2023; To embark on a nationwide comprehensive strike beginning Monday 14th of August, 2023 if this contemptuous court summons is not withdrawn by whosoever initiated it.”
Meanwhile, some NLC sources who spoke with the magazine on Friday said the next strike will be a total showdown, saying they felt betrayed by the federal government.
