The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has questioned the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria’s (TUC) rejection of the federal authorities’s proposed ₦70,000 month-to-month transport allowance for public servants, insisting that the NLC negotiated the association independently.
Ajaero stated the TUC neither participated within the negotiations nor requested the intervention to cushion the influence of rising transportation prices, expressing shock that the labour centre would oppose an settlement it was not a part of.
He made the remarks on Thursday whereas talking on Morning Brief on Channels Television, following the TUC’s rejection of the proposed allowance.
“The agreement was not signed by TUC, and you don’t kick against something that you didn’t negotiate, you never asked for,” Ajaero stated.
He argued that fairly than oppose the result of the negotiations, the TUC might have introduced its personal calls for for consideration and doable harmonisation by the federal authorities.
“I would have preferred a situation whereby if NLC was asking for one Naira, TUC would be asking for ten Naira, and probably the government would harmonise it,” he stated.
Ajaero recalled that the disagreement started when the TUC president, Festus Osifo, addressed a press convention and maintained that negotiations for a brand new minimal wage wouldn’t be due till August 2027.
According to the NLC president, his organisation disagreed with that place, arguing that it was inconsistent with the relevant authorized provisions.
He additionally maintained that the TUC didn’t search authorities intervention over rising transportation prices earlier than the NLC commenced discussions with the federal authorities.
Ajaero additional disputed stories suggesting that each labour centres had been collectively concerned within the negotiations, saying the TUC had expressly distanced itself from the method.
“When we started the first meeting, the media reported that NLC and TUC had a meeting. They threatened us and said they are not part of it,” he stated.
He added that the NLC subsequently issued a press release clarifying that it was negotiating independently of the TUC.
“And then we came out with a statement that NLC is on this alone, we are not with TUC. So I would be surprised why TUC would be challenging what was gotten for the workers,” Ajaero stated.
On the potential for a wage enhance, the NLC president argued that such an adjustment couldn’t be granted with no formal course of, including that the identical TUC had beforehand known as for negotiations to start in August 2027.
He stated the NLC had, throughout its discussions with the federal government, known as for the committee liable for the method to start work instantly.
Ajaero stated he remained involved in regards to the TUC’s place, questioning why it might reject an intervention that was not negotiated on its behalf.
“I have been worried for some time now, you know, why you say you reject something that was not given to you,” he added.
LEADERSHIP reported on Wednesday that the TUC rejected the federal authorities’s proposed ₦70,000 month-to-month transport allowance for public servants, arguing that the measure may not adequately ease employees’ monetary difficulties.
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television, Osifo stated the union was involved that the proposed intervention might undergo the identical shortcomings because the wage award launched by the federal authorities in 2023.
According to him, many federal authorities employees didn’t obtain the ₦40,000 wage award launched on the time, elevating doubts in regards to the effectiveness of one other reduction bundle.
“We sincerely think that what has been put on the table will not address the plight of workers because the one they put on the table in 2023, it did not work,” Osifo stated.
He argued that incorporating the reduction into employees’ salaries via a rise would offer a extra reliable technique of delivering monetary help, on condition that salaries are paid usually every month.
“But when it’s infusing salary as increment, the salary will come at the end of every month. So it’s just a matter of time,” he added.
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