A Civil Society Organsation, Network for Accountability and Transparency Crusade has urged organised labour to respect the court order halting its proposed nationwide strike action schedule to begin Tuesday.
The group in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Dr. Roland Giwa at the weekend said it is aware that the government has indeed put forward tangible explanation why the N30,000 minimum wage demanded by the labour unions was not feasible due to the precarious state of the nation’s finances.
He said there are already allegations the intended strike is politically motivated, but urged the labour leaders to rise above such personal interest and return to the negotiation table.
According to the statement, going by its antecedents as a pan Nigerian organization, organized labour should be the last group ever to disobey a valid court order in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world, and should therefore jettison the intended plan to defy a valid court order.
The statement reads partly, “The organized labour in Nigeria has been known to stand for truth. They have been known to protect the interest of workers in general and not a select few. At the risk of portraying the organized labour in Nigeria as a dictatorial organization, and one with contempt for the rule of law, the labour leaders at the negotiating table should not allow the smell of filthy enticement make them lose their sense of dignity and that of the millions of workers that they represent.
“The Nigerian workers have been subjected to untold hardship over the years, and to think that the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari has introduced measures towards alleviating their hardship should be commended and encouraged instead.
“We urge the labour leaders to have a rethink about disobeying court orders and going ahead with the proposed strike action, and not when it is politically motivated by the same set of politicians who through their actions and inactions while in office worsened the plight of Nigerian workers.”
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