By Denis Inakefe , ANIPR.
The Trade Union Congress stated that the Federal Government has established a two-week deadline for providing wage awards, tax exemptions, and allowances to public sector workers to alleviate the difficulties they are experiencing due to subsidy removal.
Additionally, the government has agreed to address the process of accessing the intervention fund that was recently announced as relief for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Congress highlighted that only employees of the federal government have not yet received the palliative measures introduced by the government.
During a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong on Monday, Comrade Festus Osifo, President of TUC, expressed the following statement.
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership did not attend the meeting called by Lalong to prevent the two-day warning strike already announced by NLC.
Only Osifo and the leadership of TUC attended the meeting, which was supposed to begin at 3:00 pm but started at precisely 5:32 pm. The meeting lasted for 30 minutes.
Some urgent issues that were discussed included the implementation of palliatives, wage awards, tax exemptions, and allowances for public sector workers, as well as the modalities for N70bn SMEs and the RTEAN crisis.
TUC leadership will continue communicating with the federal government to ensure that their demands are met. The issues discussed will be addressed within two weeks and further discussion will be held thereafter. Urgent issues will be resolved promptly, while longer-term issues will require more time. It was agreed that there would be no strike during the two-week period while the deliberations and efforts to achieve objectives take place. The TUC has decided not to participate in any plans.