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Tag: Nationwide Strike

  • NLC threatens strike if FG fails to withdraw lawsuit

    NLC threatens strike if FG fails to withdraw lawsuit

    The Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) has asked the Federal Government of Nigeria to withdraw the lawsuit filed against its leaders, saying they will resume a nationwide strike on August 14, 2023  if the lawsuit is not withdrawn.

    The NLC made this known via a statement duly signed and released by the National President, Joe Ajaero and the National Secretary, Emanuel Ugboaja on Thursday in Abuja.

    According to NLC, the decision was taken during its National Executive Council meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, vowing that it would go on a nationwide total strike any day labour leaders were summoned to court by the government.

    The union accused the Ministry of Justice and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) of allowing themselves to be used as “anti-democracy” agents.

    They demanded immediate withdrawal of the litigation by the Federal Ministry of Justice before the end of work Friday, the 11th of August, 2023.

    “To embark on a nationwide comprehensive strike beginning Monday 14th of August, 2023 if this contemptuous court summon is not withdrawn by whosoever initiated it,” the union said.

  • ASUU Strike: NLC set to declare nationwide strike

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has concluded plans to embark on a one day strike to protest the continued industrial action embarked upon  by lecturers in Nigerian public universities.

    Speaking at the opening ceremony of the NLC NEC meeting at Pascal Bafyau House, Abuja, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, said the NLC was organising a one day warning strike to mobilise Labour in solidarity with the unions in the education sector, especially ASUU.

    Wabara  lamented that students have been at home  lying fallow for four months running and the ripple effects is telling on them and their parents.

    He said the frustration has escalated crime in the country.

    Wabba  emphasized that  after the warning strike a full scale strike will commence if the issues are not attended to in due time.

  • ASUU issues three-week ultimatum to FG, threatens fresh nationwide strike

    ASUU issues three-week ultimatum to FG, threatens fresh nationwide strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a three-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to address all issues in the December 2020 Agreement.

    ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this on Monday while addressing reporters in Abuja.

    He warned that the union might be compelled to embark on another nationwide strike should the government fail to implement the Memorandum of Action signed with ASUU prior to the suspension of the last industrial action.

    According to the ASUU President, all the issues, including those of unpaid academic earned allowances and the universities revitalisation fund have not been addressed almost one year after an agreement was reached.

    The ultimatum is part of the resolutions reached at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of ASUU held in the nation’s capital.

    ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike in March 2020 following its disagreement with the government over the funding of the universities and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), among other issues.

    It had proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) to replace IPPIS.

    In a bid to get the lecturers back to class, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, convened a series of meetings with leaders of the union and relevant government officials.

    Amid the strike that lasted several months and negotiations that ended in a deadlock, the government and ASUU later signed a Memorandum of Action in December 2020.

    This led to the suspension of the protracted industrial action that lasted nine months, although not after the government offered a cumulative N65 billion to the lecturers to address earned academic allowances and revitalisation of universities.

    On the IPPIS tussle, both parties agreed on the UTAS, while the university lecturers’ salary arrears would be paid by the government on a different platform.

    ASUU had, however, warned that it would resume the strike should the government fail to meet its part of the agreement reached with the university lecturers.

  • Nigerians to face another fuel scarcity as NUPENG commences nationwide strike December 11

    Nigerians to face another fuel scarcity as NUPENG commences nationwide strike December 11

    Tanker drivers under the auspices of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) will commence strike on December 11, 2021 to protest the deplorable state of roads in Nigeria.

    South-West Zonal Chairman of NUPENG, Tayo Aboyeji, said the drivers would withdraw their services on December 11 in protest of the many lives and properties lost to bad roads.

    NUPENG said each time they were to go on strike, they had to call it off “because it will generally affect the majority of Nigerians.”

    However, this time around the union said their hands are tied. “We are going on nationwide strike because of the deplorable and shameful state of our highways.”

    Lamenting over Nigeria’s deplorable road, they said, “When a truck loads petrol in Lagos, the drivers spend five to six days to get to Abuja because of the shameful state of the roads.

    “All calls by the executive of petroleum unions have fallen on the deaf ears of the government as the highways continue to deteriorate nationwide.

    Blaming the Federal Government, Mr Aboyeji said NUPENG “cannot continue to fold its hands while our members are getting burnt everywhere and every day.”

  • Resident doctors commence fresh nationwide strike Monday

    Resident doctors commence fresh nationwide strike Monday

    The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has directed its members across the country to embark on a total strike from Monday, August 2.

    This directive was issued on Saturday at the end of the executive meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union held in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

    Briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, NARD National President, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, disclosed that members have been asked to proceed on a nationwide indefinite industrial action.

    “We are embarking on a total and indefinite strike on August 2, 2021. You can recall we had a memorandum of action on March 31, 2021, and had an addendum to it on April 9, and since then, we still have had irregularities in the payment of salaries to the house officers.

    “We had issues with them being non-regular payment and as part of the memorandum of action, it was said that they should be captured back into the IPPS platform,” he said.

    Uyilawa added, “You are aware that we lost 19 members to COVID-19 and death in service insurance was supposed to be paid to their next of kin.

    “The last time we met the minister of labour and minister of health, we were told that our members are part of those to be given the insurance benefit, but we found out that their names are not even their.”

    He cited the inability of the Federal Government to meet the demands of the doctors as part of the reasons for the decision to go on strike.

    The NARD president, however, apologised to Nigerians for the decision which he insisted was a result of the government’s failure in its responsibilities.

    The resolutions reached at the end of the meeting read,

    After critical appraisal of the performance of both Federal and State Governments on all the issues affecting the welfare of our members as observed above and the insincerity of government in implementing the memorandum of action after One Hundred and Thirteen (113) days, the NEC unanimously resolved by vote to resume the total and indefinite
    strike action from 08.00hrs Monday 2nd August 2021.

    The NEC in particular demanded the immediate withdrawal of the circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service.

    Finally, the NEC stated unequivocally especially to the members of the public that the NARD is committed to the smooth running of the health sector; however, can only do so when our welfare is given the desired attention.

    The doctors had embarked on industrial action in April, leaving many patients unattended across various government-owned hospitals in the country.

    They later suspended it 10 days later following a virtual meeting with members which lasted about 15 hours on April 10.

    Some of the issues raised by the medical practitioners as of then included the immediate payment of all salaries owed to all house officers, including March salaries (regardless of quota system) before the end of business on March 31.

    They also sought an upward review of the hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance, especially in state-owned-tertiary Institutions.

    The doctors called for the abolishment of the exorbitant bench fees being paid by their members on outside postings in all training institutions across the country.

  • Doctors threaten fresh nationwide strike

    Doctors threaten fresh nationwide strike

    Members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have asked the Federal Government to honour its agreement with the union.

    They warned that should the government fail to honour its agreement in the next four weeks, they would be forced to declare another indefinite nationwide industrial action.

    President of NARD, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, gave the warning on behalf of his colleagues during a monitored programme on Channels Television on Monday.

    “We have been given a leap of faith to believe in the system and we hope and pray that the system does not fail us,” Okhuaihesuyi said.

    The doctor added, “If it fails us, we don’t have a choice but to call a meeting in the next four weeks, which is the timeline for this strike that we suspended.

    “If our demands are not met in four weeks’ time, I think it will go back to us going on indefinite strike again.”

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that members of the union had embarked on strike on April 1, but it was suspended after 10 days following a meeting with the government on Saturday.

    In their demands, they sought the payment of all salaries owed to all house officers, including March salaries, and payment of all salary arrears for their colleagues in all Federal (GIFMIS platform) and State Tertiary Health Institutions across the country, especially ASUTH, IMSUTH, and UNIMEDTH.

    They also called for an upward review of the current hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers, as well as and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance, especially in state-owned-tertiary Institutions, among other issues raised.

    Giving an update on the progress made so far since the strike was suspended, Dr Okhuaihesuyi acknowledged that significant progress has been made.

    He said, “We have gained something significant, but it may not be enough to end the strike because as we speak, there is a meeting that is going to hold concerning the N5,000 hazard allowance today, and with other health workers on Wednesday.

    “For the members we lost to COVID-19 (17 members were lost), we have been able to reach an agreement that the doctors and health workers involved should be able to make claims so that they can benefit from the group insurance.”

    On the demand for the house officers’ payment, the NARD president noted that they have achieved at least about 75 – 80 per cent progress.

    He confirmed that about 239 house officers have been paid as of Monday morning, but there were some irregularities with the payment.

    “If we didn’t go on this strike, we will not be able to achieve the proposed review of hazard allowance; if we didn’t go on this strike, we won’t be able to have them to tell us that we should go and make a supplementary budget for those that have not been paid Medical Resident Training fund,” said Dr Okhuaihesuyi.

  • Resident doctors to commence indefinite strike on April 1

    Resident doctors to commence indefinite strike on April 1

    Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) will begin what it called a “total and indefinite strike” on Thursday, April 1, except the Federal Government moves swiftly to stop the industrial action.

    Already, the Nationsl Executive Council (NEC) of NARD had unanimously agreed to proceed on the strike by Thursday if their demands are not met.

    The decision to go on strike was made after an extraordinary NEC meeting held on Saturday at the Trauma Centre, National Hospital, Abuja.

     

    The NEC was held to review its earlier ultimatum and deliberate on issues affecting Residency Training, Healthcore Delivery and the welfare of its members across the country.

    According to a communique issued after the meeting, the NEC observed that its earlier ultimatum given to the Federal Government during its January NEC meeting in Owerri, Imo State, will expire by March 31, with no significant achievement.

    In the communique signed by the NARD President, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi; the Secretary, Dr. Jerry Isogun and the Publicity Secretary, Dr. Dotun Osikoya, the NEC reiterated the full support of NARD for the central placement of house officers.

    “Nevertheless, we decry the agony our members have been made to pass through for three months now without salaries despite uninterrupted service delivery to the nation. This is due to the inefficiency of the Registrar of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) in handling the processes of central placement of House Officers as approved by the Federal Executive Council since 2017,” the communique said.

    The communique added: “The NEC unanimously agreed that NARD should proceed on a total and indefinite strike on the 1st of April 2021, by 8:00 a.m. if the following demands are not met.”

    Some of the demands include immediate payment of all salaries owed to all house officers including March salaries, regardless of quota system, before the end of business on 31st of March 2021:

    “Immediate payment of all salaries arrears including March salaries for our members in all Federal (GOFMIS platform) and state tertiary health institutions across the country especially ASUTH, IMSITH and UNIMEDTH.

    “Upward review of the current hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance especially in state-owned tertiary institutions.”

    BREAKING: Resident doctors declare “total and indefinite strike”, to begin from April 1

  • Resident doctors threaten fresh nationwide strike

    Resident doctors threaten fresh nationwide strike

    The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has threatened to go on strike over the failure of the Federal Government to address their demands and implement the agreements reached with the association since last year.

    In a communique issued on Tuesday and signed by NARD President, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, after a virtual National Executive Meeting, the association resolved to proceed on a recess after their if their demands are not acceded to by the government.

    Among their demands include the immediate payment of the salaries of members, the payment of all minimum wage and other salary arrears to its members nationwide without further delay and the immediate implementation of 50% of consolidated basic Salary as Hazard allowance for all healthcare workers.

    Others are the immediate payment of the Medical Residency Fund for 2021 with the arrears of 2019 and 2020 inclusive, that all training institutions be directed to stop the collection of Bench Fee from its members since it was not captured in the Residency Training Fund as approved, and that all clinical health workers be considered for COVID-19 vaccination and other issues affecting efficient health care delivery in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic including adequate provision of PPEs be addressed.

    The association warned that should the Federal Government fail to implement the demands, its members would have no choice but to proceed on indefinite strike pending when the demands are met.

  • Unions direct university workers to commence nationwide strike from tomorrow

    Unions direct university workers to commence nationwide strike from tomorrow

    Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of the Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU) have been directed to embark on a nationwide strike from Friday.

    The directive was issued in a statement signed by the leaders of both university staff associations on Thursday.

    Representatives of the federal government met with the unions on Tuesday, but the workers said the outcome was “not satisfactory enough to” assure them that government would meet their demands.

    The unions are asking, among other demands, for the government to rectify inconsistencies in the payroll of its members and pay minimum wage arrears.

    The strike action, if followed through, could cripple most government-run universities.

    The universities were shut for most of 2020 due to a nine-month strike carried out by academic workers and closures necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.

    Amid a second wave of the pandemic sweeping through the country, the National Universities Commission in January urged universities to re-open and commence academic activities.

    Friday’s strike could hamper the much-awaited restart.

    In a statement signed by the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, and the SSANU’s National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, the unions said it would meet on Friday to “pass resolutions on the way forward” after its Tuesday meeting with the federal government.

    “In the meantime,” the statement said, “the nationwide strike takes effect from 12 midnight, 5th February 2021 pending any contrary resolution by the Branches.”

    Its Tuesday meeting with the government had been attended by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, the acting Chairman of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, the Director of Tertiary at the Federal Ministry of Education and the Director of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

    But the unions felt the government representation wasn’t adequate.

    The Joint Action Committee leadership “noted that the quality of representation of Government and the fact that while the officials were quite relevant to the meeting, their mandate to effectively commit government on the issues in contention was not satisfactory enough to gain the confidence of the JAC leadership,” the statement said.

    “The position was adequately conveyed to the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment.”

  • Fuel/Electricity hike: Wny we can’t embark on nationwide strike now – Labour

    Fuel/Electricity hike: Wny we can’t embark on nationwide strike now – Labour

    Organised Labour says it has not yet adopted nationwide strike as the next line of action in spite of the breakdown of dialogue between government and organised labour on the hike in the petroleum pump price and electricity tariff.

    Mr Joe Ajaero, Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said this at a news conference jointly organised by NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Monday in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Organised Labour on Sunday at a reconvened meeting with Federal Government aimed at addressing the increase in price of fuel and electricity tariff staged a walkout.

    The meeting was necessitated by the recent increase of pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, from N160 per litre to N170 and the increase of electricity tariff.

    Ajaero said that Federal Government has violated the agreements reached with the Organised Labour, adding that the Congress will not at the slightest provocation start talking about strike.

    “Our strike was suspended on Sept. 28 based on certain understanding and those understanding were being violated and that was why we raised that alarm yesterday, which led to the walk out.

    “We cannot call you out here to announce a strike and the next strategy as if the unions are one man organisation. Part of what we are doing in terms of engagement is to reach out and if every other means fails, strike is usually the last option by any union.

    “We do not just at the slightest provocation start talking about strike. I think that is not what is on the table now. There are certain disagreements which we are trying to address.

    “We say that we can’t accept deregulation that is import-driven and that the refineries must work before you think of it and then you go into price fixing.

    “Price fixing is not the same thing as deregulation, you cannot regulate in a deregulated market. If they have deregulated, the price of product in Sokoto will not be the same thing with that of Abuja, there will be variations,” he said.

    Speaking, Mr Muhammed Idris, NLC Deputy President, also explained why labour walked out of the meeting with government on Sunday.

    Idris said that what they had prioritised as urgent was the increment of fuel price and electricity tariff before delving into the issue of palliatives.

    He said that all efforts to make the government see reason failed and given the tense situation, labour had no option than a walk out.

    “This is in spite of the patriotic understanding of labour which has drawn the flak of the public which think we are not doing enough to protect their interests on the issues of petroleum products and electricity tariffs.

    “The terms and conditions for putting the protest on hold were clearly spelt out in the Memorandum of Understanding.

    “The conditions include fixing the existing refineries, entrusting them to efficient managements, creating an enabling environment for new refineries, and doing all positive things that would ensure enhanced and sustainable local refining capacity.

    “Furthermore, Government and Labour Committee was setup to review the increase in electricity tariff,” he said.

    He however, noted that the letter and spirit of the terms and conditions of the agreement presuppose that contemplation of an increase or an increase would constitute a breach of the dialogue process.