The Federal Government has told labour unions it will not condone further hooliganism in the disguise of trade unionism, hence, a strong warning that crossing the line with unlawful picketing will attract the full weight of the law.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who said this in a statement signed by Mr Charles Akpan, Deputy Director Press and Public Relations, said the Federal Government would no longer fold its hands while what ought be a peaceful agitation by unions cross the boundary of lawfulness as stated in Section 43 of the Trade Unions Act. Cap.T14,LFN,2004.
Ngige in the statement said, “The gale of irrational and unlawful picketing by the unions in the Ministry of Trade and Investment and that of the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre run counter to sections 87 and 89 of the ILO principles and the Trade Disputes Act, 2004.
“For avoidance of any doubt, disruptive picketing which barricades entrances to workplaces, premises, locking up of offices, and preventing workers who wish to continue working, are direct threat to public order, and hence illegal.
“The fact that the Federal Government allowed the unions time to come to terms with the illegality they embarked upon and do the right thing, does not constitute license for further illegality.
“We therefore state clearly here that the principle of non-interference in Article 3, C87 of the ILO Convention is that the employer interferes not in the affairs of the union. Reciprocally, employees/ workers are not to interfere in the business of their employers; on how they run their business which in this case is government. They therefore, have no say in who is appointed or deployed at any given time.
“Workers in the Citizen and Leadership Centre have therefore been given the next 24 hours to open the officers they locked up, especially that of the newly Director -General of the agency, who is the new bonafide head of the centre, having been appointed by the President on October 3, 2021.
“We seize the opportunity to call on the leadership of the both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to educate their members on their rights and privileges and to call them to other, as government will bring the full weight of the law on those who continue to cross the line in the disguise of unionism.”