The Federal Govern-ment has threatened to invoke the relevant labour laws if workers continue with their indefinite strike action, which has paralysed business activities in the country.
The government, which appeared to have finally run out of patience in its quest to end the 4-day old nationwide labour strike, warned after Friday’s negotiations in Abuja with members of the organized labour, that failed to yield the much needed result, it would henceforth implement the relevant aspects of the labour laws that deal with strikes and lock-outs.
The threat to come down hard on labour was followed with a warning by the Acting Inspector Gen-eral of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, who said his men would not hesitate to arrest any labour leader that atte-mpts to disrupt the smooth operations of essential public utilities.
Worried by the deadlock, the Nigerian Bar Assoc-iation (NBA), yesterday also offered to mediate in the crisis. The NBA President, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, is expected to lead a delegation to meet with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Baba-gana Kingibe in Abuja today. A member of the NBA delegation, Carol Ajie said it was imperative that contacts are made “to avert further lose of resources to our ailing economy and the untold hardship on the masses.”
Kingibe who spoke to newsmen after the early morning negotiations yesterday said the government had resolved to do everything within its powers to ensure that Nigerians live a normal life, despite the disruptions caused by the labour strike.
“The Government will now consider all other options, which it has so far been reluctant to apply in ensuring that labour laws are fully respected, that the laws governing strikes are fully respected and enforced and we would ask and urge our country men and women to bear with the obvious disruption for the time being,” he said.
The SGF, while reacting to the outcome of over 9-hours of talks with labour yesterday, regretted that after such excruciating hours of deliberations, the two parties could not arrive at any major break through.� It appears labour is bent on continuing the strike and government will put in everything it can to ensure that those citizens who want to exercise their fundamental freedom to go to work, do so without molestation and that petrol stations and depots are secured,� he said.
Kingibe alleged that there were efforts during the labour strike to disrupt the normal functioning of the depots and that there were harassment of those who wanted to work.
According to him, workers were chased out of the office while some offices generators were locked up and their keys made away with. “These kinds of acts which are clearly against the laws will no longer be tolerated and we will try as best as possible to bring life back to normal as soon as Labour is willing to cooperate. I do not think that Nigerian people deserve to be held hostage by a group purporting to represent the people’s wish as indefinitely,” the SGF said.
An obviously worried SGF expressed regrets that despite government’s engagement with the labour which lasted from 6pm to about 2 am, not much progress was made to end the strike.
Kingibe said while the government had made some concessions by reversing the increases in VAT and pump prices of Petroleum products, labour appeared not ready to let go its insistence on the complete reversal of petrol price to the old price of N65 per litre.
The SGF said the government’s refusal to grant the complete reversal of petrol price incr-ease was based on financial estimates which clearly show that the country’s budget for 2007 cannot absorb the huge expenditure from the extra subsidy.
“To pay the 15% salary increase, which were unpaid from January to March, would cost government some N18.3bn and this has not been budgeted for, ” he said, adding that if government were to foot the bill and remove the N5 fuel price hike, it would negatively impact the entire budget for the year.�
Kingibe said that as an alternative, the government had proposed to labour the setting up of a joint committee to understudy the mechanism applied for the fuel price increment and to recommend whether such new price is tenable or not.
He said on their part, labour had insisted that of all the items they presented to the table, must be met. �Negotiations do not work that way,� he stated.
“You do not go to negotiate on the bases that you must have 100% of your wishes met. So on this basis, it is with deep regret that the government would continue to appeal to labour to consider the plight of the Nigerian people, to consider the jeopardy in which the situation has put the Nigerian economy and ceased the opportunity of the options placed before them where objectively, this matter of N5 difference can be resolved by both sides looking at the figures and arrive at a meaningful resolution.”
However, the labour representatives, who came out of the meeting threatening to extend the strike to more sensitive areas of the economy such as the oil export terminals and the electricity sector, insisting the government had refused to appreciate the plight of the suffering masses by sticking to its position on the increase.
The National President of the Trade Union Con-gress (TUC) Comrade Peter Esele said the meeting was not successful because the federal government team came to the meeting not prepared to make concessions.
“There was no shifting of grounds by both parties and this led to the collapse of negotiations,” he said.
The TUC President said his group and NLC would meet yesterday evening to adopt fresh strategies for engaging the government over the contentious issue.
THISDAY gathered that the meeting of NLC and TUC was as a result of tremendous pressure on the labour leadership to consider calling off the strike.
Esele confirmed this, saying the labour movement has been under intense lobby by some persons to accept government’s proposal in order to end the national crisis.
In the meantime, Okiro emphatically stressed that labour leaders do not have the right to stop workers on essential services from reporting to work and performing their duties.
Okiro, who gave the warning while speaking with State House Correspondents shortly after meeting with President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, yesterday said to ensure that the organised labour does not have its way, security personnel have been deployed to arrest any labour leader that attempts to stop workers from providing essential services.
�We have found out that some labour leaders are stopping those who went to work. In law, there are some people engaged in essential services that are not supposed to go on strike, but labour leaders are going about stopping them from going to work. In as much as we feel that labour leaders have the right to go on strike, they have no right to stop those who want to work,� the IG stated.
He added: �Security men have been told to go around and if any body is seen picketing, or stopping those who are supposed to work from going to work, they should be arrested and the law will take its course. If a labour leader goes to somebody who is supposed to be on essential duties, who is not supposed to be on strike, and goes to disturb him. For example goes to a PHCN technician to disrupt him from working, it is an offence; he will be arrested and dealt in accordance with the law.
Also yesterday, the former President of NLC and Action Congress (AC) gubernatorial candidate in Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, paid a solidarity visit to the labour house in Abuja.
Oshiomhole during the visit debunked allegations that the NLC was playing politics with the current strike.
Oshiomhole during his visit to the labour house said: �Though, we may all have different challenges at different point in time, but the bottomline is that we all mean well. Nigerians mean well for their country and the organised labour as always been on the patriotic side.
�We are all in it together, if it works, we all have collective benefits and we all want it to work so that we can have something to smile.�
Jun232007