Divided NLC defies court, embarks on strike

According to the government, a benchmark of N145 per litre, has been recommended as pump price. The announcement was made by Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, who however promised the price will not stay for so long. This however didn’t go down well with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), who vowed to go on strike to force the federal government to revert to the former pump price of petrol (now pegged at N145). But just as both labour unions planned an industrial action to force the federal government to revert to the former pump price of petrol, the government filed a suit at the Industrial court to restrain the NLC and TUC from embarking on strike. And in the early hours of Wednesday, May 18, the court read an injunction against NLC and TUC not to go on strike.

The court order shows that should the NLC and TUC go ahead with the industrial action, then they are going against the law. Just before the court order, a meeting into the night of Tuesday, May 17, between the federal government and the labour workers to reach a compromise over the proposed action, ended in a deadlock. Although it was gathered that the federal government has agreed to set up a committee that will review the new fuel pump price as well as the minimum wage issue which the workers have been agitating over.

Read more: https://www.naij.com/833585-live-update-amid-labour-impending-strike-read-happening-across-nigeria.html?source=notification