Don’t be deceived by NLC – CNPP
By Bimbo Oyesola, Lagos
THE Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), representing employers in the private sector, yesterday threatened to deal with any worker in the sector who participates in the planned nationwide strike by called by organised labour to protest increase in fuel price.
The employers body said government’s policy on oil and gas was not an employment and labour issue, and should not be a basis for a national strike.
The Director General of NECA, Olusegun Oshinowo, therefore warned that beyond applying the law of no work, no pay, employers will take strong exception at any employee that fails to report for work as from Wednesday.
“As a key actor in the economy and participant at various committees of government in the past on the subject at stake, NECA deplored the usual resort of organised labour to threat of strike to impose its position even when such would be to the long term detriment of the economy as we have seen over the year with the subsidy regime”, he said.
The Director General noted that one stakeholder’s interest should not loom larger than several other stakeholders’ and should not be pushed through an illegal strike on an issue outside the primary mandate of the custodian of the interest.
He stated that organised labour should instead focus on how to improve the welfare of its members through wage discussion and related matters.
Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has warned Nigerians not to trust the labour unions as they have been compromised. It claimed that the planned action would not last beyond Friday as the labour unions were using the strike as a ploy to scuttled genuine actions against the increment as they did in 2012.
The umbrella body of political parties in Nigeria said said these in a statement jointly signed on Sunday by its National Chairman, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and the Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu.
“What the labour unions are doing now by calling for a strike action was what they did in 2012 during the Occupy Nigeria protests in response to similar increase in the pump price of petrol under former President Goodluck Jonathan. The labour unions later scuttled the action by purportedly entering into an agreement with the then government on behalf of Nigerians and ended up fixing the pump price of petrol at N97.00 per litre.
“We have it on good authority that the labour leaders have compromised. Recall that the labour leaders were at a meeting where the decision to inflict more and more pains on the already impoverished Nigerian people by increasing the pump price was taken and never protested against it. Why the sudden U-turn by the same labour leaders?
“The ever increasing hardship enthroned on Nigerians by the current government cannot be be tolerated.”