ANOTHER round of talks between Labour and the Federal Government last night ended without a common ground being reached. Consequently, Nigeria Labour Congress has called a meeting of its highest decision making organ, National Executive Council (NEC) in Abuja today.
The labour umbrella body had declared a nationwide strike last week over the introduction of new pump prices of petroleum products.
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, told The Guardian after yesterday's meeting that his team would, however, report its deliberations with government to the NEC which would decide on the next line of action.
He said: No new offers were made. We stood our grounds of accepting
nothing above the former price of N20.00 per litre of fuel and
government stood its ground of N25.00 per litre.
Oshiomhole, who will today lead a team to picket the federal
secretariat the senior workers of which have been ordered to return to
work by Head of Service, Mr. Abu Obe, said: We are going to our NEC
to report back to them on how to re-enforce the strike which must
continue.
A meeting between the two teams with President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar in attendance earlier in the day had also ended in a deadlock.
Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, who spoke briefly to State House reporters at about 7.30 p.m. when the meeting ended, however, declined to disclose details of agreements by both parties.
Affirming that both parties exhibited tremendous goodwill
especially on the need to see an end to the crisis, the minister, who
was accompanied by principal secretary to the President Steve
Oronsaye, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity,
Dr. Doyin Okupe and another Special Assistant in the Presidency,
Dr. Bukola Saraki, said he would not want to pre-empt the outcome of
the NLC meeting today.
Also at the government, labour meeting were Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Ufot Ekaette, National Security Adviser (NSA), Lt. Gen. Mohammed Aliyu Gusau and the Works and Housing Minister, Chief Tony Anenih.
He said negotiations would continue today as the NLC team would reconvene at the Presidential Villa at the end of their meeting and expressed the hope that at the end of today's meeting, both parties would have arrived at far-reaching decisions capable of moving the nation forward.
Meanwhile, prospects of an early end to the strike dimmed yesterday as Senior Staff Consultative Association of Nigeria (SESCAN), directed its members to continue the industrial action.
Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed its members on Grade Level 07 and above who belong to Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), to sustain the industrial action until fuel prices are reverted to the old rates.
SESCAN, the umbrella body of non-unionised senior staff associations has joined NLC in the current face-off with the Federal Government.
Obe had on Friday ordered senior officers from Grade Level 07 to
resume duties today, saying they are by rule not expected to
participate in an industrial action
.
But SESCAN's President -General, Alhaji Ohindase Aliyu faulted the directive, stressing that senior officers belong to a duly registered labour body, that can by law, embark on strike.
Aliyu said: It is not correct of him (Obe) to give such a
directive. All the senior staff associations and the umbrella body are
duly registered as trade union bodies which can go on strike like any
other trade union. So, it's legitimate for us to embark on the
current strike action and we will not going back until the fuel prices
are reverted to the old rates
.
Consequently, he directed all senior officers to adhere strictly to
the stand of the association by staying away from their duty posts,
until President Olusegun Obasanjo accedes to the wishes of
Nigerians in respect of the fuel prices
.
SESCAN is made up of Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Association of Civil Servants of Nigeria (ACSN), Nigerian Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Nigerian Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN), etcetera.
Also yesterday, SESCAN's secretary, Mr. Didi Adodo, described Obe's directive as provocative.
According to Adodo, we of SESCAN view the said directive to our
members as unduly divisive and reminiscent of the colonial divide and
rule tactics and authoritarian jackboot politics of military
dictatorships of the past of which Obasanjo was one.
For the avoidance of doubt, SESCAN remains committed to the
resolution of the extraordinary meeting of its NEC held at the Federal
Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on June 6, 2000 which called all
SESCAN members to embark on strike as from Friday June 9.
To him, the statement credited to the Head of Service of the Federation has once again demonstrated government's warped perception of the sufferings to which Nigerian workers of all categories have been subjected as a result of the gross mismanagement of successive governments in Nigeria, both civilian and military.
He, therefore, urged all SESCAN members to remain steadfast in the
on-going strike action and to resist any form of intimidation and
harassment from whatever quarter in the exercise of their fundamental
democratic right to protest peacefully through the strike
.
This strike,
he vowed
will be called off only when government
reverts to the old prices of petroleum products.
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