The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has laid out conditions that must be met before it can make an appearance at the meeting with the federal government set for today (Monday).
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, invited the leaders of the NLC and TUC to a meeting that would take place later today at the State House in Abuja.
It was discovered that the purpose of the meeting is to review report on the execution of the agreements made with labour regarding the policies implemented to mitigate the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy.
Recall that the NLC criticized the minister last week for supposedly endorsing the illegal faction of the NURTW by encouraging them to conduct their own Delegates conference.
However, the NLC has threatened to boycott the meeting if the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, will be part of it.
Stating their reason for that decision, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, on Sunday said the Minister’s position on the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) showed he has no control over issues.
The NLC boss told pressmen on Sunday that the minister went against the agreement on the issue of crisis in the NURTW by taking sides with a faction in the dispute.
“Hopefully, we may meet tomorrow (Monday) with the federal government to see whether the agreement with organised labour on the fuel subsidy removal palliatives was met or not.
“If that meeting is to hold, it will be without the Minister of Labour and Employment because we will not be part of any meeting with the federal government that the Minister of Labour and Employment will attend.
“You will recall that the decision we had on the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) was that all parties, including the Police, should the premises pending the resolution of the dispute, but that did not happen.
“Therefore, any meeting we will have with the Federal government, the Minister of Labour and Employment will not be part of it,” Ajaero stated.
Ada Peter
