Dare Babalola
Workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, with the backing of the Nigeria Labour Congress, on Monday picketed the National Industrial Court in Abuja as part of an ongoing total and indefinite strike over unresolved labour disputes.
The NLC this week declared full support for the industrial action and urged affiliate unions to mobilise, calling the strike “a necessary and heroic response to a vicious cocktail of neoliberal attacks, gross administrative impunity, and a systematic violation of the fundamental rights of workers by the FCTA management and the political leadership.”
Placards carried by the protesters bore inscriptions such as “Wike must go!!”, “Abuja no be Rivers”, “Pay promotion arrears”, “Enough is Enough” and “No working tools”.
The Joint Unions Action Congress (JUAC), which is leading the strike, said it remains open to talks but “will not succumb to misinformation, intimidation or divide-and-rule tactics,” and vowed the strike would continue until core demands are met.
FCTA officials say progress has been made and insist 10 of the workers’ 14 demands have been addressed including the commencement of five months’ wage-award payments and settlement of long-standing hazard and rural allowances while the remaining issues are being handled administratively.
Minister Wike has taken legal action to restrain the unions, filing a suit at the National Industrial Court; the case was scheduled for hearing on Monday even as workers converged on the court.
The standoff has shut several FCTA offices and raised fears of wider disruptions in Abuja’s public services.
Union leaders urged calm but warned they would escalate action if their demand including unpaid promotion arrears, pension and National Housing Fund remittances are not fully and transparently resolved.
