...Extends Ultimatum by Two More Weeks
President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Festus Osifo has lamented the economic hardship being faced by Nigerian workers, over the federal government’s fuel subsidy removal policy, saying executive members of the union can barely sleep as a result of complaints emanating from their members.
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Osifo gave the impression on Tuesday, during a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong in his office.
While the interface lasted at the conference room of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Osifo decried the seeming inaction of the government towards addressing the grievances of the workers, warning that they were running out of patience, following the subsidy removal policy.
He acknowledged the fact that the President was away in the United States, attending the United Nations General Assembly, but noted that they expect the government to within the next two weeks wrap up effective palliative scheme to douse pressures.
“We as TUC appreciates the efforts of the Minister but there has to be more action than promises because workers are getting more inpatient due to hardship occasioned by the removal of subsidy.
“Workers are facing enormous pressures that are making life very difficult, which makes the leadership of TUC to have sleepless nights.
“We hope that between the next two weeks, the President would have done everything possible to arrive at a conclusion which the workers are eager to hear in order to douse the tension and threat for withdrawal of services by workers,” Osifo reiterated when they met with the Minister.
Meanwhile briefing the TUC officials on efforts being made by the Federal Government to address their grievances, Lalong said after their last meeting, he met with the President to highlight some of the issues raised by the Labour union.
He went on to appeal to the TUC to exercise more patience, explaining that before the President left for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, he was fully briefed and gave further directives on implementation of issues put before him, particularly when he personally met with the labour leaders.
Before the meeting went into a closed door session, the Minister thanked the TUC for accepting to come for the briefing, which showed that they were committed to the Nigerian project and are open to dialogue for greater industrial harmony.
Recall that Tuesday’s meeting preceded that of the Nigeria Labour Congress, although no resolution was reached after almost five hours of deliberations.
While the NLC had embarked on a two day warning strike to register its displeasure over the manner, the federal government was handling the subsidy removal policy, especially its inability to effect a favourable palliative scheme.
It had also slammed a 21 day ultimatum on the federal government to meet a number of demands involving an increase in workers salaries, special allowances to meet the upward review of fuel prices among other issues.
The 21-day ultimatum by the nation’s workforce expires on Thursday September 21.
