TheNewsGuru

Tag: Strike

  • ULC suspends strike, resumes dialogue with FG

    The United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC) on Wednesday suspended its strike for further deliberation with the Federal Government.

    Mr Joe Ajaero, ULC President, said this at a conciliatory meeting called at the instance of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, with other affiliates of the proposed association on Wednesday in Abuja.

    “In the sprite of tripartitism and negotiation, they appealed that we suspend the action for discussion to continue by next week.

    “The ULC has looked at it and the further appeal by the Department of State Security (DSS) who had taken cognizance of the security nature of the sectors that are involved.

    “Having looked at all these two factors, the ULC will be getting across to the field for the suspension of the action to enable further deliberation of the issues raised and the remaining issues to commence next week,‘’ he said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the ULC had earlier issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government which expired on Sept. 8.

    The association further issued another seven-day strike notice that expired on Sept. 15 with a threat to shut down the oil, power and aviation sectors.

    The demand included that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment should set up a task force immediately to carry out factories’ inspection and review the privatisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

    Others are repair of roads leading to refineries and tanker farms, the Army and Police to withdraw their men in the different workplaces where they are currently stationed as their presence intimidates and harasses workers in such establishments.

    The council is also demanding the immediate release of its “Registration Certificate,’’ among others.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Ngige had said the Federal Government did not recognise the ULC as a federation of trade unions, describing the planned industrial action as illegitimate.

    The minister also earlier said the Federal Government had a closed-door technical meeting with the leadership of ULC and some agreement was reached.

    “ULC is a proposed Labour federation and some unions have indicated their interest and had done the necessary preambles within the association as enshrined in labour regulations that they want to be part of.

    “There is a proposal and an application in this ministry and that application is being processed and there is no finality that it will not be a registered labour centre.

    “So, we are discussing with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and all the other affiliates who said they are behind the proposed ULC.

    “And in the meeting we had with the leadership, agreements were reached in the interest of our social partners to do the needful in the disputes,’’ he said.

    He said issues such as the roads leading to the refineries and the tank farms were tackled and work was ongoing.

    The minister also noted that the issues such as labour factory inspection, privatisation of the PHCN, security and others were also discussed.

    “We now had an agreement that an enlarged meeting will take place next week on Tuesday, Sept 26 for us to reconvene and do justices to all those other outstanding matters.

    “They promise to do a meeting with their members with a view of calling off the strike they have invoked. So, I want to commend them for attending this meeting,‘’ he said.

    Also, Mr Igwe Achese, President of NUPENG, commended the Ministers of Labour and Employment, Works, Housing and Power, Petroleum and the DSS for their interventions.

    “I assure Nigerians that the purpose of our actions is what we are seeing today, that we need to have this dialogue which is the only way is to resolve the issues.

    “We believe that in no time the request of ULC will be granted while we go into other issues that affect our workers in the entire industry,’’ he said.

     

     

    NAN

  • Disregard ULC strike threats, NLC/TUC tell FG, workers

    The organised labour on Friday urged the Federal Government and workers to disregard strike threats by the unregistered United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC).

    President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, gave the advice at a news conference jointly addressed in Abuja by the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC).

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the ULC had earlier issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government which expired on Sept. 8.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the union issued another seven-day strike notice that will expire on Sept. 15 with a threat to shut down oil, power and aviation sectors.

    The ULC said it was pressing for the following demands – that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment should set up a task force immediately to carry out factory inspections and review the privatisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

    Others are – the Army and Police should leave their different workplaces as they were intimidating and harassing workers in such establishments in addition to immediate release of its registration certificate.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, recently said that Federal Government had not recognised the ULC as a federation of trade unions.

    Wabba said the ministry of labour and workers should disregard the strike threats by the illegal association and that the supervising ministry should act fast in enforcing the laws governing trade unionism in the country.

    He said the main promoters of the so-called new federation are individuals from NUEE and NUPENG both of which were affiliates of the NLC.

    He said that by the extant laws, as passed some years ago, those individuals could not form a parallel federation.

    According to him, the section on Registration of Trade Unions in Part 1, Section 2, is very clear that un-registered trade unions and federation(s) are prohibited from functioning.

    “Under this section, a federation of trade unions shall not come into existence until it is registered.

    “So, we feel constrained to make the following comments on the unfolding situation.

    “In spite of the listing of their 12 points demand, we have no doubt that those behind the ultimatum were only hoping to blackmail the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to register their association as a central labour organisation.

    “ We have no doubt that the officials of the Ministry of Labour would deal with the situation.

    “This is because the laws of the country governing labour relations are very clear on the procedure guiding registration of trade unions and trade union centres, “he said.

    Mr Bobboi Kaigama, the President of TUC, said that the promoters of ULC were trying to take advantage of the current security situation in the country.

    He said that Nigerians needed to know that the ULC was not a legitimate organisation duly recognised by the laws of the land.

    “These are individuals who find it difficult to accept the will of the Nigerian workers as very clearly demonstrated during the NLC elections in 2015,” he said.

    According to Kaigama, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has acted within the confines of the law by not registering the association.

  • JUST IN: Resident doctors suspend strike

    The National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has suspended its nationwide strike.

    The suspension was announced in the early hours of Thursday after a meeting of the executives of the association.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the strike which commenced on September 4, crippled activities in public hospitals across the country.

    The federal government had earlier said it had met many of the demands of the doctors, including payment of salary arrears.

    ‎Addressing journalists on the decision to suspend the strike, the Chairman of NARD, UCH, Ibadan chapter, Segun Olaopa, said “the decision was reached following appeals from the public that the doctors should give the federal government more time to meet their demands.”

    Olaopa, however, said that there will be a review in two weeks time to determine how far the government had gone to honour their agreements.

    Details later…

  • FG, resident doctors meeting deadlocked as strike continues

    The meeting of the executives of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, convened to review government’s offers has been deadlocked.

    The meeting, which started at 11 p.m. on Tuesday in Abuja ended at 7 a.m. on Wednesday for a break.

    Reporters at the meeting venue observed that the doctors argued all night. While some of them wanted the strike suspended, others wanted it to continue until the federal government meets all their demands.

    After the break, the president of the association left the venue, reportedly to the health ministry to get a guarantee letter that could influence their decision.

    The meeting is to reconvene‎ at 10 a.m.

    The strike, which commenced last week, has crippled activities at public hospitals across Nigeria.

  • ASUU strike: Varsities to get N220bn in 30 days

    Lecturers under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, might soon call off their one month old strike after reaching a fresh agreement with the Federal Government on their demands.

    Top of the agreement reached at a 15-hour meeting that ended early yesterday in Abuja,is the immediate release,by government, of N220 billion to the universities to fund the revitalization of federal universities in the country.

    The sum is expected to be paid not later than next month.

    The money is to enable the institutions buy working tools needed for effective discharge of their responsibilities.

    Representatives of ASUU are scheduled to present details of the agreement to the National Executive Council of the union within the next one week for ratification, and possible calling off of the strike.

    Besides, government at the conciliatory meeting, coordinated by Labour and Employment Minister,Chris Ngige, agreed to commence the immediate payment of the salary shortfall to the lecturers.

    Ngige told reporters at the end of the meeting that government had also commenced the payment of the earned allowances of members of the union.

    He said the meeting also discussed how to set up the National Universities Pension Management Company as well as the issue of university staff schools and the Treasury Single Account.

    His words: “We also discussed the issue of university staff schools and treasury single account with a view to finding how the system could accommodate funds for research grants that need to be independent from the government. We also discussed the issue of how the Federal Government could be involved in the running of state universities.”

    He said the meeting agreed to set up a seven-man committee on the implementation of the proposals.

    The union and the federal ministry of education will each be represented by three persons on the committee, while government will be represented by one person who will serve as chairman .

    Continuing, Ngige said: ”There’s the fund for revitalization of public universities and the issue of Earned Academic Allowances; the issue of University Staff Schools on which there is a court judgment; the issue of National Universities Pension Management Company; and the issue of salary shortfalls for lecturers and staff of universities. There is the issue of TSA exemption and the problems in the state universities. All are the issues that ASUU felt that government should address.

    “Most of these issues stemmed from the 2009 agreement that government had with ASUU and also from the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding that the government had with ASUU. Government is a continuum. Most of those issues were not issues that cropped up from the Buhari administration, we inherited them.

    “But be that as it may, we are to ready to address those issues.

    “But ASUU has to take back this our proposal to their organs, so we decided that there’s an agreement for government to make some funds available in September and October to show that they are not repudiating their agreement and to also show sign of good faith.

    “On the issue of Earned Academic Allowances, we have listened and payment has started in that direction and the same with staff schools. Government is though not appealing, we have agreed that the decision should be conveyed to the various universities.

    “The Issue of NUPENCO was addressed and ways have been fashioned out for the registration of that company. Salary shortfalls for lecturers and university staff were also addressed and government has shown their commitment and evidence that payments have started in order to liquidate the outstanding allowances.

    “The issue of TSA exemption was also discussed and an agreement or proposal was muted by which the Central Bank would open a special account.

    ”State universities which have been the concern for ASUU and everybody who has been looking for quality education in the country was also discussed and the Minister of Education was mandated to take the memo to the council of state and the Federal Executive Council.

    “Based on these discussions, ASUU leadership will consult with its organs and revert back to government within one week. They will consult with their organs with a view to calling off the strike. And we expect them that within one week, they will get back to government. These are the highlights of the meeting and I can tell you that the meeting took place in very cordial atmosphere.”

    Also speaking, ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said the proposals made by government were concrete, but said the ASUU team would take the offers back to their colleagues for consideration within the next one week, and the position of the members would be communicated to government.

    He said: “We have had useful deliberations and we had some concrete proposals that we will take back to our members as part of our consultations.

    “And like the Honourable Minister of Labour has said, we plan to come back here to take decisions as advised by our members.”

    Also at the marathon meeting were the President of the Nigeria Labour Comgress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that ASUU embarked on the strike on August 13, following government’s failure to implement the agreement reached with the union in November 2016.

  • Why we may not suspend strike action now – Resident doctors

    …accuse FG of breaching agreements signed with NARD of Wednesday

    Hope that the ongoing strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) will be suspended was dashed on Friday as the federal government breached agreement reached with the doctors on Wednesday.

    Specifically, the government failed to pay the backlog of salary arrears to the doctors as it promised on Wednesday to effect within two days.

    Arikawe Adeolu, a member of the National Executive Council of NARD, confirmed to newsmen in Abuja on Friday that the government had reneged on the agreement.

    Mr. Adeolu, who is also the General Secretary of NARD at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi, Abuja, said that as at the close of work on Friday, no member of the association had been paid.

    The meeting on Wednesday between the doctors and Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, a professor of medicine and his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris Ngige, was to find ways on how to end the strike.

    The doctors are protesting the sack of some of their colleagues, non-payment of “skipping’’ entitlement, non-inclusion in the IPPIS platform and non-payment of their salary arrears.

    Following failure by the government to honour the agreement on payment of salary arrears, Mr. Adeolu said that the association would meet late on Friday to decide on next line of action.

    “Since we held the meeting with the two ministers, nothing new has happened. We were hoping that they will fulfil their end of the agreement so that we can call off the strike and continue negotiations,” he said.

    “But, up till now that I am speaking with you, nothing has happened; we are yet to be paid.

    “After the meeting we had on Wednesday, an agreement was reached. Some of the agreements reached cannot be fulfilled immediately except one; that is for the Federal Government to pay the backlog of salary arrears owed doctors across the country; it was agreed that these arrears would be paid latest on Thursday or Friday.

    “With this in mind, we scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday to discuss the next steps to take in order to call off the strike but to our dismay, we are yet to receive anything.”

    He said that the Friday meeting would be closed-door, and that the association would release a communique at the end.

    He, however, expressed optimism that the government would fulfil its part of the agreement so that the association could call off the strike.

  • Finally, FG, ASUU reach consensus, to suspend strike soon

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU may suspend their strike soon as they have unanimously agreed to consider the federal government’s offer.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the agreement is coming after 12 hours, 30 minutes of a closed door meeting between ASUU and federal government delegation including Ministers of Labour and Education, Dr. Chris Ngige and Mallam Adamu Adamu in Abuja.

    The leadership of ASUU, however, said though it accepted the proposal presented by the government, it will take the proposal to its members and get back to the government in a week.

    The national president of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, after the intense meeting told journalists that the union will come back after one week to take its final decisions.

    “Now we have some concrete proposal that we will take back to our members for consideration,” he said.

    On his part, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said ASUU’s demands have been addressed and the union will get back to the government in a week after consulting with its principals.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the meeting started 1:38pm on Thursday and ended 2:15 a.m. on Friday.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the strike which commenced on August 8 has crippled academic activities in both the state and federal institutions across the country.

    Details later…

  • Resident doctors continue strike despite meeting FG

    The strike embarked upon by members of the National Association of Resident Doctors , NARD since Monday, September 4 would still continue despite holding series of meeting with the Ministers of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige and Health, Prof. Isaac Oyewole.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the meeting held in Abuja ended in the early hours of Thursday between the leaders of the striking doctors, the two ministers and other top government officials.

    A statement by the labour ministry after the meeting which lasted several hours said the strike would continue until at least Friday when the doctors are expected to meet to review the offer by the government on their demands including payment of salary arrears owed.

    ‎”The meeting agreed that NARD national officers is to present the outcome of the re-negotiated Memorandum of Terms of settlement to an emergency meeting of its members by Friday September 8, 2017 with a view to suspending the strike once there is evidence of payment of the mandate as presented to the meeting, to the affected institutions,” the statement noted

    Details later…

  • Strike: FG yet to invite us for negotiations – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has said it is yet to receive any official invitation from the Federal Government for negotiations towards resolving the over three weeks old strike embarked on by the union.

    The President of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, on Sunday said that they were ready for talks and would attend any meeting called by the government to resolve the lingering strike which has paralysed academic activities in the universities.

    “We have not received any invitation from the government, but we are ready for talks anytime they call us for negotiations,” he said on the telephone.

    Asked if he believed the government was delaying the negotiation by not fixing a definite date for talks, Ogunyemi said the holidays might have been responsible for the lack of communication, adding that the government would likely schedule a meeting after the Sallah break.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige had earlier said negotiation between the Federal Government and ASUU will resume after the Eid-el-Kabir holidays.

    This was revealed in a statement issued by Mr Samuel Olowookere, Deputy Director (Press) in the ministry, Ngige said the meeting would hold shortly after the holidays as requested by the leadership of ASUU.

    He also dispelled speculations of uncertainty over talks between the Federal Government and the union.

    “Engagement of the striking ASUU members is still being handled by ministers of Labour and Employment and the ministers of Education.

    “Issues of strike by an employee are a labour matter. The Minister of Labour and Employment is, therefore, synergising with his the Ministry of Education to resolve the dispute.

    “This is normal procedure in government where ministers brief and report to the president or vice-president to streamline efforts and gains in a given assignment,’’ he said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that members of ASUU embarked on an indefinite strike on Aug. 13, following government’s failure to implement the agreement reached with the union.

     

  • Proposed strike: Resident doctors refute FG’s claims, says ‘We’ll decide on Sunday’

    The chairman of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, Osogbo chapter, Folarin Olarewaju, has denied claims that the association has suspended its proposed strike scheduled to commence on Monday, September 4.

    He said rather the association will hold an emergency executive committee meeting on Sunday, where a decision will be made.

    Olarewaju admitted that the members of the association had a meeting with the government, but said that it was yet to make a decision.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, was quoted by Channels Television as saying on Friday that the doctors suspended the strike after a meeting.

    The minister said a meeting was held between officials of the NARD, himself, and officials of the ministry of health, which ended on Friday morning after several hours.

    Ngige said the meeting would continue on November 2.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the resident doctors had earlier threatened to go on strike from September 4, if the federal government does not meet their demands including their immediate enrolment in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS.

    “Neither the federal nor state governments has shown commitment to the resolution of issues at stake nor honoured previous agreements,” the head of NARD at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, said in a statement.

    “Consequent upon this, the association resolved to proceed on a total indefinite industrial action from Monday, September 4, 2017, until all these issues are permanently resolved.