The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has handed the Federal Government a four-week ultimatum to conclude all ongoing negotiations with unions in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
NLC President Joe Ajaero announced this during an interactive session with labour correspondents on Monday in Abuja, following a meeting between the Congress and leaders of tertiary institution-based unions at the NLC headquarters.
Ajaero criticized the government’s no-work-no-pay policy imposed on members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) during their previous strike, describing it as unfair and counterproductive.
“We have decided to give the Federal Government four weeks to finalize all negotiations in this sector. While talks have started with ASUU, the issues affecting tertiary institutions go beyond ASUU alone,” Ajaero stated.
He warned that failure to meet the deadline would prompt the NLC’s National Executive Council (NEC) to convene and decide on a nationwide industrial action involving all workers and unions across the country.
“The days of signing agreements, holding negotiations, and then turning around to threaten unions are over.
The so-called no-work-no-pay policy will now be met with a no-pay-no-work response. You cannot benefit from a crisis you caused. We’ve found that 90% of strikes in this country stem from the government’s failure to honor agreements,” he added.