FG in last move to resolve Kaduna Govt, NLC dispute

The Federal Government has made the last move to amicably resolve the Labour crisis between the Kaduna State Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), over the mass sack of thousands of workers without due process in the state and anti-workers policies.

The Federal Government had earlier intervened to resolve the crisis when through the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige apprehended the NLC strike and protest in the state, following an agreement reached between the two parties.

However, the Kaduna State Government reneged and failed to honour the agreement as Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, said the state executive cannot implement the decisions arrived at following the negotiation.

Angered by the position of the Kaduna State Government, the NLC has threatened to resume its action and declared a nationwide strike. It has also directed its state chapters and affiliate unions to start mobilization of workers across the country for the strike.

In a swift move to avoid a national strike, the Federal Government has inaugurated a 10-man committee to resolve the dispute with a charge to the members to meet the expectation of President Buhari that industrial peace returns to Kaduna shortly.

The committee, inaugurated by Senator Ngige is headed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr. Peter Yemira Tarfa, with the Secretary to Kaduna State Government, Balarabe Lawal and Deputy National President of NLC, Najim Hashim as co-chairmen. Mrs. O. U. Akpan, the Director Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, will serve as the Secretary.

While inaugurating the competition, Ngige recalled that the Federal Government had initially apprehended the strike by the NLC in Kaduna State in May, with the parties signing a Memorandum of Understanding to restore  peace, noting that  intervening circumstances made the reconstitution of the committee inevitable .

According to him, the committee is expected to resolve all the  issues in  dispute between the Kaduna State Government and the NLC.

The Minister, who acknowledged  that the issues in the contentious border were essentially trade disputes, gave  the committee a timeframe of 21 days to round off and report back.

He charged the expanded committee to resolve the issues holistically and be guided by the 1999 Constitution as amended as well as labour laws of the federation.

He explained that downsizing or rightsizing of  workforce  in any organization,  government or private sector, is a redundancy issue which  must be subjected to the principles spelt out in the Trade Disputes Act, Laws of the Federation 2004 Cap L1.

Ngige said, “The law says in Section 20 (A)  that “in the event of redundancy, every employer shall inform the trade unions or representatives of workers concerned of the reasons for or the extent of their anticipated redundancy.

“(B) equally says that the principles of last in, first out shall be adopted in the discharge of the category of workers affected, subject to all factors of relative merit including skill, ability and any reliability.

“So, in applying this, we must subject it to the relativity of merit, skill, ability and reliability. If somebody has a forged certificate, he should be asked to go because he didn’t merit the job in the first instance.

“If you go to a nursing home and find somebody  working in the ward with a  Bachelor’s degree in  History, he stands disqualified because he doesn’t have the skill in the first place.  He has to go. So, these are the qualifications that must be noted in  this principle of last in, first out. It is not absolute. It has exceptions and qualifications.”

The Minister noted that the employer has the right to reduce staff strength of his organization  but is bound by law  to negotiate redundancy payment to any discharged worker.

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