Barely 24 hours after meeting with President Bola Tinubu where an agreement was reached to call off their protests, the rapprochement between the organised labour and the Federal Government appeared to have collapsed as the unions on Thursday night vowed to embark on a nationwide strike from August 14 if their leaders were summoned for contempt of court orders.
The Nigeria Labour Congress hinged its decision on the contempt of court application filed by the Federal Ministry of Justice against the labour leaders on Wednesday.
It threatened to down tools should the Federal Government fails to withdraw the lawsuit accusing the labour leadership of disobeying court orders.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, announced the decision on Thursday night after the union’s National Executive Council meeting which was held in Abuja.
In a bid to avert a strike by the labour movement last month, the FG had through the Federal Ministry of Justice secured an order from the National Industrial Court restraining the NLC and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on any strike action over issues bordering on “removal of fuel subsidy, hike in prices of petrol and consequential increase in cost of living,” pending the determination of the suit.
The Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, in a statement, urged the NLC to withdraw the seven-day notice it issued on its plan to commence a nationwide industrial action from August 2, if the demands of labour unions were not met.
The justice ministry sternly warned in a statement on July 26 that the planned strike by the union would be contempt of court, an offence that is punishable by imprisonment.
According to the FG, such strike action would amount to a resort to self-help since the matter was already pending in court.
But dissatisfied by the slow negotiation process with the FG and the delay in rolling out palliative to cushion the pains of subsidy removal, the organised labour declared a nationwide protest despite the court injunction.
Lagos lawyer and solicitor to the organised labour, Femi Falana, SAN, however, insisted that the proposed protest was lawful.
As a result, the protests, which were held on Wednesday, paralysed economic and commercial activities nationwide, leading to the shutdown of banks, offices and courts in several states.
As a payback for the labour leaders’ defiance, the Federal Government on Wednesday initiated a contempt of court proceeding against the labour leaders, a development that angered the unions.
The “notice of consequences of disobedience to order of the court”, titled “Form 48,” was filed before the National Industrial Court, Abuja.
The applicants are the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation, while the various leaders of the organised labour were listed as respondents.
-Punch
