Posted by By PETER ANOSIKE on
A nationwide workers' strike looms as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) plans an emergency meeting to decide on a stiffer action to compel the Federal Government to hearken to the cries of striking public school teachers.
A nationwide workers' strike looms as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) plans an emergency meeting to decide on a stiffer action to compel the Federal Government to hearken to the cries of striking public school teachers.
National Coordinator of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO), Abiodun Aremu hinted at a national workers' strike, while addressing journalists after a protest held in solidarity with the teachers in Lagos on Thursday.
Public school teachers had embarked upon industrial action since June 30, following Federal Government's failure to issue a circular for implementation of the approved Teachers Salary Scale (TSS).
Aremu said Thursday's protest rally was held to sensitize the public that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) was not alone in the struggle for implementation of the new teachers' salary.
He noted that education was the foundation of any nation, adding that consequently, the strike could not be left for the teachers alone.
All the 35 affiliates of the NLC would meet to decide on the strike, Aremu, who is also the convener of the United Action for Democracy (UAD), emphasized.
His words: 'I want to say that this strike is beyond the teachers, it borders on the foundation of the country and as such we are not going to leave it to them. Next week, the Nigeria Labour Congress will hold an emergency meeting with all their affiliate bodies and after that we are going to declare total strike.
'Since government is trying to prove insensitive to the plight of the Nigerian masses, we have to give it to them the way they understand it, which is by shutting down the nation.
'President Yar'Adua by his refusal to honour the agreement which was reached many years ago is trying to take us back to the Obasanjo era and if he is not careful, history will judge him negatively as it is judging Obasanjo now."
Aremu said that he could not understand why government should be dilly-dallying on an agreement, which its representatives signed.
He said LASCO had tried to make the protest as peaceful as possible but that government should reciprocate by honouring the agreement with the teachers.
'You may start a war but you may not know when and how it would end. That is why we are asking government not to push us to the wall, because if they do, it might be disastrous. They are trying to grapple with the insecurity in the Niger Delta, if they push us to the streets, the consequences would be far-reaching so we are pleading that we should not be allowed to go back to the Obasanjo days.
Also speaking, the NUT Lagos chapter Chairman, Michael Olukoya said the teachers were determined to pursue the strike to a logical conclusion.
According to him, the embattled teachers would not relent until government honoured the agreement, which it reached with the union in 1999.
Olukoya also warned proprietors of private schools to shut down their schools to avoid being picketed by monitoring teams dispatched to all parts of the state.
Meanwhile the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) resolved yesterday to go full scale with its current strike that has been going on in pockets across the country.
NUPENG has been having a running battle with the federal government over the deplorable state of the country's road. The bad state of the road, according to NUPENG, has taken its biggest toll on fuel-bearing petrol tankers. Many vehicles and their contents have been lost in avoidable accidents on the roads, the union said. NUPENG also has issues with the price of diesel and condition of service of petrol tanker drivers
The NUPENG strike, however, has no direct bearing with the ongoing strike by NUT.
• Additional reports by Taiwo Amodu