The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has given the Federal Government a four-week deadline to resolve ongoing negotiations with unions across the nation’s tertiary institutions.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during an interactive session with labour correspondents after meeting with leaders of tertiary institution-based unions at the Congress headquarters.
Ajaero criticised the government’s no-work-no-pay policy imposed on members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as a punitive measure for their strike.
He said the union would no longer tolerate delays in resolving labour disputes or the repeated violation of agreements reached with academic unions.
“We have decided to give the federal government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector,” Ajaero said. “The problem goes beyond ASUU, and if after four weeks there’s no resolution, the NEC organs will meet to decide on a nationwide action involving all workers and unions.”
The NLC leader condemned what he described as the government’s pattern of neglecting agreements and blamed it for most industrial actions in the country.
“The era of signing agreements and turning against the unions is over,” he said. “The policy of no work, no pay will henceforth be no pay, no work. You cannot benefit from an action you instigated.”
He stressed that about 90 percent of strikes in Nigeria stem from government’s failure to honour agreements with workers.
