A serious dispute between Nigeria’s two largest labour federations has erupted over who has the right to negotiate on behalf of workers, triggered by a ₦70,000 transport intervention approved by the Federal Government.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, argued on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief that the NLC can negotiate alone based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) principle of most workers’ representatives.
He stated that the Trade Union Congress (TUC) can only negotiate alongside the NLC, not independently.
“TUC can negotiate along with NLC, but NLC can negotiate alone based on the principle of most workers representatives of the ILO,” Ajaero said.
Ajaero: TUC Cannot Negotiate Alone
Ajaero argued that the TUC has no power to sit at the table alone with labour authorities. He said the TUC is required to present its propositions to the NLC when engaging with the ILO.
“TUC sent their negotiation alone ahead of the ILO conference, but they returned it, and I had to minute on it,” he said. “They have to send their list here for me to forward it; that is the position of the ILO. NLC determines how TUC participates.”
He added that the NLC does not submit its proposal to the TUC. “It is the other way round.”
He maintained that the Ministry of Labour and other labour authorities will not engage with the TUC alone on workers’ welfare negotiations.
“TUC can’t negotiate alone; if they are saying and it is implied, it does not happen. I don’t think the Ministry of Labour or the Labour Authority will allow that to happen.”
Responding to TUC President Festus Osifo’s claim of over 300,000 members in the federal civil service, Ajaero cited the 2005 Trade Union Amendment Act, which made membership voluntary.
He also referenced Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees every Nigerian worker the right to belong to any trade union of their choice.
He argued that only one member union of the TUC belongs to the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, which consists of eight union bodies, and seven of them are in the NLC.
Ajaero said the NLC engaged with the federal government to secure the ₦70,000 transport intervention.
“We gave government an ultimatum; we were supposed to start an action. The government asked for four days and to meet with us, and we met, and they resumed sitting after four days. After the meeting, the 70k allowance came up.”
Osifo Fires Back: “Show Me the ILO Document”
TUC President Festus Osifo, appearing on the same programme, described the ₦70,000 agreement by Ajaero as an aberration, saying the TUC was not carried along.
“Listening to Ajaero again today, I really pity the Labour movement and the quality of leaders that have been inflated on the NLC,” Osifo said.
“As I listened to Ajaero today, I was wondering if it is the same NLC that produced the likes of Adams Oshiomole, Hassan Sumonu, Ayuba Wabba and so on.”
Osifo challenged Ajaero to produce the ILO regulation document that says either labour union can negotiate on behalf of the other.
“There is nowhere in ILO regulations that says a trade centre cannot negotiate for its members. It is not there!” he said.
“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 explained that the ILO is tripartite, involving labour, government, and employers, and that the list of TUC members is joined with that of the NLC and submitted to the Ministry of Labour, which forwards it to the ILO.
“In that case, the two bodies must come together. We are not contesting the fact that NLC has more affiliates,” he said.
“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!”
The JNC Question
Osifo also challenged Ajaero’s understanding of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNC). “I don’t truly think Ajaero has read the JNC constitution. I don’t truly think he knows what the JNC means,” he said.
According to Osifo, the meeting where the ₦70,000 transport allowance was agreed upon was not a JNC 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!”
Osifo alleged that Ajaero used the JNC improperly after the last minimum wage increase. “What you are supposed to do is that JNC will have to sit down and apply consequential adjustments,” he said.
“You know what Ajaero used JNC to do? Ajaero sent JNC a questionnaire and asked them to apply ₦40,000 each to Nigerian workers. So they took ₦40,000, which is the difference between ₦30,000 and ₦70,000, and applied it across board. That is why the federal workers today are earning abysmally poor.”
He said he confronted Ajaero directly about the matter. “I went to his office and told him that ‘Ajaero, this is wrong!’ What you used JNC to do is fundamentally wrong!”
