The National Coordinator Federal Workers Forum (FWF), Comrade Andrew Emelieze, has called on organised labour to declare an indefinite nationwide strike if the Federal Government fails to respond positively to workers’ demands following the three-day warning strike.
Emelieze, who spoke with our correspondent on Sunday, said the next step should be a “total shutdown of the system” if the government remained adamant after the warning strike.
According to him, labour had exhausted several channels, including negotiation, dialogue and the latest warning strike, without getting the desired response from the government.
He said: “What is painful, most painful about this is that it appears government is adamant. Government is just acting as if it’s not hearing us.
“Probably they need something stronger. And that’s why we are saying that as of now, I think the labour movement should sit down, discuss, negotiate, and be able to eventually, if government does not comply or eventually shift ground, then there should be total strike.
“Total strike this time around, total shutdown of the whole system.”
Emelieze said the three-day warning strike should nevertheless be regarded as an important step by organised labour, despite what he described as less-than-expected compliance.
He explained that the strike, which commenced on Friday, included the weekend, thereby limiting the extent of participation that might have been recorded if the three-day action had fallen entirely on working days.
“It’s a warning strike and they counted weekends to it. It’s supposed to be three days. And the three days, they added weekends: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
“Ordinarily, people expected that it should be on an official working day, that since it started Friday, it should proceed to Monday, Tuesday. Then, of course, maybe in terms of compliance, we’d be having more people comply.”
The labour activist also attributed the level of compliance to what he described as the long absence of national protests and strikes by organised labour, as well as inadequate mobilisation.
“Strike is in court for a very long time. It’s been long we had national protest, national strike being called by labour and people are also not so much used to the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council. So the compliance wasn’t that much especially also in terms of the mobilisation, it was not enough.”
Despite this, Emelieze said the warning strike had succeeded in sending a message to the government and should be built upon by labour.
“But I think it’s a very good one, in the sense at least there is an attempt by labour to at least query the situation of things on ground.
“Even if we don’t have 100 per cent compliance, I think the message is being sent, and we expect that labour should also consolidate on what they have achieved, the gains of this little strike, and be able to take it a step further, energise that to achieve for the Nigerian workers and the Nigerian public.”
He said the current economic situation made it unacceptable for organised labour to remain silent, stressing that workers and ordinary Nigerians were bearing the brunt of rising living costs.
“With the situation we have on ground, it is demoralising, it is not proper, it is also criminal for people to keep quiet, especially the organised labour. So, it’s a good one that at least labour has made attempt to query the situation through this calling of three days warning strike.”
Emelieze further linked the workers’ grievances to the removal of the petrol subsidy and subsequent increases in the pump price of petrol, arguing that Nigerians had not received adequate palliatives or social protection to cushion the impact.
“That is the next thing to do, because the condition, the living condition of Nigerian workers and the Nigerian people, ever since the removal of so-called subsidy, and the continuous increment in the pump price of petrol without any form of subsidy coming through palliative, social security, there’s nothing on ground.
“For us, it’s a kind of punishment coming from government, and so the response must also come from the people to let them know that, yes, the people are feeling the pain.”
According to him, a total shutdown would be necessary to demonstrate the seriousness of the workers’ grievances if the government continued to ignore them.
“The only way they can be serious, or they will feel that, yes, the people are talking, is total shutdown because all the methods used so far, I think government, labour has been negotiating, they’ve been dialoguing, they’ve been discussing, they’ve also called for warning strike, and government just seems to be mute.”
He therefore urged labour leaders to escalate the action if no meaningful response emerged from the government after the warning strike.
“The next line of action is that labour should not hesitate. Right now, they should call for total shutdown of the system, full-blown strike, indefinite strike, until government is made to shift their ground,” Emelieze said.
He, however, stressed that labour was not necessarily demanding that all its demands be granted immediately, but wanted the government to demonstrate willingness to address workers’ concerns.
Emelieze particularly faulted the situation in which workers’ wages remained inadequate amid the rising cost of living, pointing to what he described as the failure to implement consequential adjustments.
“In terms of the workers’ welfare, they’ve maintained 30,000 minimum wage, and cost of living has hit everything on ground. Government is not putting any palliative.
“Consequential adjustment has not been done. And yet, you still expect that people will keep quiet? It’s not proper for people to continue in their silence.”
He said labour should be prepared to move beyond the warning strike if there was no positive development from the government.
“So, what we are calling for now, if by Monday, Tuesday, we don’t hear anything positive from government, they don’t call the labour leaders to say this is what we have on table, labour should go ahead and declare indefinite strike, complete shutdown of the system.”
