Jan. 8 Is For Protest, Mass Mobilisation, Not Strike —NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress [NLC] has clarified that the proposed January 8 action of the Union is stipulated for nationwide PROTEST over national minimum wage, not STRIKE.

NLC General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson disclosed this in a press statement made available to ElombahNews on Monday.

In the statement, Dr. Ozo-Eson lamented that some section of the news media has largely misrepresented NLC action plan in reaction to the delay in transmitting the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee on a new National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He recalled that NLC National Executive Council met on 17th of December last year and directed that nationwide mobilisation of workers and our allies be held if by 31st December, 2018, the bill on the National Minimum Wage has yet to be sent to the National Assembly to be passed as an Act of Parliament.

Consequently, he said: “We immediately announced then that on Tuesday, 8th January 2019, there will be a nationwide mass mobilisation and protests simultaneously across all states in Nigeria.

“This does not translate to a strike.

“It is on record that each time we had cause to embark on a national strike, we say so publicly without any equivocation.

“We still don’t understand where the story about a strike commencing tomorrow came from.

“Already, all our State Councils, affiliate unions and allies in other pro-people mass organisations now popularly referred to as Civil Society Organisations have been fully informed and mobilised to ensure the success of tomorrow’s mass protests in all the states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“When a date is decided for the commencement of a strike subsequently, we will inform the public appropriately,” he stressed.