Nigeria Industrial Court has stopped NLC planned strike

Industrial Court has stopped NLC strike. The NLC on Wednesday rejected N22,500 which state governors adopted as the minimum wage

Nigeria Industrial Court has stopped NLC planned strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) may not go ahead with its planned indefinite strike scheduled to commence on November 6, as the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) sitting in Abuja has restrained the organised labour from proceeding on the industrial action.

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The order was given by Justice Sanusi Kado, on Friday, when he ruled on an ex parte application moved on behalf of the Federal Government by the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata.

The judge granted the application pending the determination of the substantive suit filed by the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) against both unions.

Justice Sanusi also restrained the NLC, the TUC and the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Governors Forum (listed as the first, second, and third defendants) from taking steps capable of destroying the subject of the dispute.

Justice Kado ruled that if the strike is allowed to take effect it would affect the economy negatively leading to economic loss for both public and private institutions and could further affect the health of many Nigerian who will not be able to access health facilities during the strike.

The hearing of the main suit has been fixed for November 8.

The NLC on Wednesday rejected N22,500 which state governors adopted as the minimum wage their states can pay. The governors after a meeting on Tuesday said they could pay only N22, 500 as against N30, 000 insisted upon by the labour unions.

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There are discrepancies between the understanding of the government and the unions of a resolution of a tripartite meeting held to resolve the minimum wage quagmire recently. While the government interpreted the resolution to mean N20, 000 for minimum wage, the NLC interpreted the same resolution to mean N30, 000 for the minimum wage.

The NLC and other labour unions are insisting they had agreed with the government to accept N30,000 minimum wage after extensive deliberations.

The position of the state govenrors appears to have angered the NLC whose president, Ayuba Wabba, on Wednesday told journalists that workers would now demands N66,500 minimum wage.