The President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Festus Osifo, has faulted the position of his Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) counterpart, Joe Ajaero, on the authority of labour unions to negotiate salaries and allowances for Nigerian workers.
Gatekeepers News reports that the disagreement comes amid a growing controversy over the N70,000 transportation allowance recently approved for workers by President Bola Tinubu, with the TUC insisting it was excluded from the negotiations.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, Osifo described the agreement reached by the NLC as an aberration, arguing that the TUC should have been involved in the negotiations.
“Listening to Ajaero again today, I really pity the Labour movement and the quality of leaders that have been inflated on the NLC,” he said.
“As I listened to Ajaero today, I was wondering if it is the same NLC that produced the likes of Adams Oshiomhole, Hassan Sunmonu, Ayuba Wabba and so on.”
Osifo maintained that there was no provision in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) regulations allowing one labour centre to negotiate on behalf of another without its participation or consultation.
“There is nowhere in ILO regulations that says a trade centre cannot negotiate for its members. It is not there! It is just that if you are going to the ILO, it is tripartite — the labour, government and the employers,” he said.
He explained that the TUC and NLC are both represented in the labour movement, with their membership lists submitted jointly to the Ministry of Labour for onward transmission to the ILO.
According to him, the NLC’s larger membership does not give it the authority to negotiate on behalf of the TUC.
“We are not contesting the fact that NLC has more affiliates. But what we are saying is that you have about 60 affiliates while we have about 40.
“You cannot negotiate for a body that is represented, for a body that has a trade union. You cannot negotiate for them on their behalf! It is not there anywhere!
“Yes, if we go to negotiations — I sit down, you sit down, and we agree.”
The TUC president challenged Ajaero to produce documentary evidence from the ILO regulations supporting his position.
“He should show me in the ILO Regulations where it says one party is going to negotiate without the other one being there or consulted. He should show me! He should show Nigerians!” Osifo said.
He added that the ILO’s principles did not permit the most represented labour centre to negotiate on behalf of another union that has its own umbrella body.
“ILO doctrine is that when you have more affiliates, and you are going for one of their events, it is not correct that the most represented will go and negotiate on behalf of the other one when the unions have their own umbrella.
“Let Ajaero send a document to you that proves that! It cannot be found anywhere!”
Osifo questions Ajaero’s understanding of JNC
Osifo also questioned Ajaero’s understanding of the Joint Public Sector Negotiating Council (JNC), arguing that the council’s constitution and procedures were not properly applied in the negotiations.
“He talked about the JNC (Joint Public Sector Negotiating Council). I don’t truly think Ajaero has read the JNC constitution. I don’t truly think he knows what the JNC means,” he said.
The TUC president stressed the need for labour leaders to continuously update their knowledge and adapt to changing industrial relations issues.
“Yes, you have a Masters in 1990. You cannot use a solution of yesterday to attack today’s problem.
“And that is why in industrial relations, you need to keep updating, retooling and relearning.
“First, the JNC means that when there are issues in the public sector, the JNC looks at it.”
He further argued that the meeting where the N70,000 transportation allowance was agreed upon was not a formal JNC meeting and could not be regarded as a general agreement by the council’s members.
“But that meeting that took place was not the Council meeting. The Minister is not a member of the Council. Ajaero is not a member of the Council.
“The Council even has a quorum and the number of persons that must be seated to form a quorum. But at the end of the day, that meeting was not a JNC meeting. The members of JNC were not there!” he said.
TUC faults application of N40,000 wage difference
Osifo also criticised the manner in which the N70,000 minimum wage was translated into consequential adjustments for federal workers.
He said the difference between the previous N30,000 minimum wage and the new N70,000 wage was treated as a uniform N40,000 increment across the board, a move he said had left federal workers earning poorly.
“Again, if you see the release that was sent out by those three bodies, you will discover that after the last minimum wage, we got about 33 per cent increment, and how does that work? Because from N30,000, we got N70,000.
“What you are supposed to do is that JNC will have to sit down and apply consequential adjustments.”
According to Osifo, Ajaero had directed the JNC to apply a flat N40,000 increment to Nigerian workers, rather than undertake a proper consequential adjustment.
“You know what Ajaero used JNC to do? Ajaero sent JNC a questionnaire and asked them to apply N40,000 each to Nigerian workers.
“So they took N40,000, which is the difference between N30,000 and N70,000, and applied it across board. That is why the federal workers today are earning abysmally poor.”
Osifo said he had personally confronted Ajaero over the decision, describing the approach as fundamentally wrong.
“But I attacked him! I went to his office and told him that, ‘Ajaero, this is wrong!’ What you used JNC to do is fundamentally wrong!”
