Leaders of federal civil servants have given the government seven days beginning today, to rescind its decision to lay off 33,000 workers or face the consequences.
Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU) President, Fidelis Edeh, informed journalists of the ultimatum in Abuja at the weekend, after a meeting of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC).
The workers will decide on the next line of action if, on the expiration of the ultimatum, the government does not change its mind.
Labour is not against political, economic and social reforms, he stressed, but it condemns Abuja�s insistence that retrenchment of obedient civil servants should be part of such.
“We consider it unfortunate, the manner of the public pronouncement which depicts a tendency that celebrates the demolition of the livelihood of these obedient civil servants and a sad comment that government business, as it affects its personnel, is now recklessly conducted in public,” Edeh lamented.
He said the workers were shocked by the public pronouncement on July 6 by Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir El-Rufai, concerning the retrenchment of 33,000 workers from the civil service.
El-Rufai heads the Public Service Reform Bureau, which Edeh said shut out the JNPSNC in taking the decision to sack the workers.
He explained that what is at stake is not so much the pains of dislocation that comes with retrenchment, “but that the government must guarantee the opportunity for openness, fairness and commensurate compensation through its policy of due process.
“These minimum measures of accountability have not been provided by Nasir El-Rufai and his Public Service Reform Bureau.”
Edeh recalled that due to protests from trade unions, adhoc consultative meetings were held with government representatives without a full negotiation as provided for in the rules of the Joint Council and Labour Act.
He said complaints by trade unions for appropriate negotiation attracted the attention of the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, which convened a public hearing on the matter.
The committee made recommendations, which include ensuring that rules guiding the conduct of the civil service are observed, that unions should be involved when taking such decision, and that skill acquisition training be done before the implementation of the exercise.
Other recommendations are that those fired be paid their full entitlements, their list be submitted to the Senate and that workers not sacked be re-trained.
None of the conditions were complied with by the government, Edeh insisted.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has condemned the retrenchment plan and urged the government to stop it.
A statement issued by CNPP National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, said it is “painful that since 1999, the dividend of democracy bestowed on workers is unwarranted sack that has been going on at all tiers of government with impunity.