The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) says it is committed to its principle of dialogue and social bargaining for the benefit of disengaged workers in Kaduna State.
The NLC Chairman, Kaduna State chapter, Mr Ayuba Magaji, said this on Tuesday in Kaduna at the second day of the procession against the government to reverse mass disengagement of its workers.
Magaji noted that industrial actions being issues of collective bargaining and social dialogue, should call for consultation by leaders or employers of labour before taking critical decisions or actions against workers.
“We are not in a military regime; it is not an issue of stubbornness, we will protect the rights of workers.
“The Kaduna State government is playing tough on our actions, we have had military governments who are tough by nature but we sat down and dialogued with them and reached a logical conclusion,” he said.
According to him, the five days industrial action as planned by the NLC in Kaduna will be tough because of the claims of the state government to also be tough.
“We are equally taking our responsibilities as workers’ representatives and bringing openly, the grievances of our workers.
“It is a very simple issue, let the Kaduna state government reinstate the disengaged workers and they should not sack the 11,000 they are planning to and we will call off our action.
“The state government doesn’t need toughness to discuss this; this is a democratic regime, even in military regimes, labour unions strive. We will continue with our struggle,” Magaji said.
Banks, fuel stations, hospitals among others remained locked.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has urged El-Rufai to return to negotiation table with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to prevent the ongoing strike from crippling the state’s economy.
Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State and Chairman of the forum said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
“The PGF has been following unfolding development between NLC and Kaduna state government over the issue of rightsising local government employees with deep concerns.
“Noting all the challenges facing all our states, especially given dwindling revenue, we appeal to all patriotic Nigerians, including the NLC, to demonstrate more commitment toward engaging governments at all levels to address problems.
“This is not the time for muscle flexing,” Bagudu said, saying that Nigerians were already overstretched with many challenges.
“At this critical point of our democratic journey, there could not be limits to engagement between all governments and citizens.”
He said that every step must be taken to resolve the face up between the state government and NLC.
“We appeal to NLC leadership to recognise that the burden of leadership is more about responding to challenges based on the honest disposition of correcting past mistakes.
“As progressive governors, we share the vision of Kaduna state government of reforming all our local government councils to make them more efficient and consequently the pivot of critical development initiatives.
“At the same time, we want to appeal to the state government under the leadership of our colleague, Malam Nasir El-Rufai to take all necessary steps to ensure the resolution of all disagreements in the larger interest of citizens in Kaduna state,” he said.
Bagudu expressed confidence that both the state government and NLC would resolve all outstanding issues and restore industrial harmony in the state.
