Defiant NLC insists on strike as NECA warns on disruption to economy
The Nigeria Labour Congress has remained defiant to the call against its decision to embark on strike.
The body on Sunday urged the President Bola Tinubu-led government to “as a matter of national importance” … “fix all our refineries to be able to cater to domestic fuel consumption.”
“There is nowhere in the world where government leaves its citizens totally to the vagaries of the market without some measure of control and protection. The Federal Government should immediately deal decisively with the criminal content of subsidy instead of exposing ordinary citizens to avoidable pain and hardship,” NLC said in its statement released on Sunday.
It added, “We are concerned that no government acting reasonably leaves its national currency to forces of the market.”
The union equally urged the government to immediately reverse all “anti-poor policies”, and release the withheld salaries of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, among others.
It urged Nigerians to “join us at the Unity Fountain, Abuja on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 7 am.”
However, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, on Sunday, joined the call on Labour to shelve the strike action. The body hinged its reason on the planned strike’s “potential threats to sustainable enterprises, decent work, national development, and our industrial relations system.”
NECA is worried that the planned strike “could potentially disrupt the economic activities of businesses, especially those in the formal and informal sectors, which could compromise sustainability and job creation.”
It said, “We urge the government to, as a matter of urgency, take immediate steps to ameliorate the economic trauma being faced by workers, Nigerians, and organised businesses.
“It is no gainsaying that many businesses are shut down and many others are on the verge of closing, which will exacerbate the current unemployment rate and drag many further down the poverty line.”