• NLC chief: Osifo is absentee unionist, resides in US
•TUC head: Ajaero is a catastrophe, ought to go for coaching
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The unease between the 2 key centres of organised labour in Nigeria boiled over into open hostilities yesterday, as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo, clashed publicly over the federal authorities’s N70,000 month-to-month transport allowance for public sector employees.
The disagreement, which centred on the six-month palliative introduced by the Bola Tinubu administration, performed out on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, the place each labour leaders took turns to assault one another’s credibility and negotiating capability.
Last Tuesday, the federal authorities had introduced the transport allowance in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) issued after a gathering between authorities representatives and NLC leaders in Abuja.
Barely 24 hours after the announcement, the TUC rejected the allowance, insisting that what Nigerian employees wanted was a wage enhance, not a brief palliative. This set the tone for a conflict between the 2 labour centres.
Reacting to the TUC’s place, Ajaero stated the commerce union led by Osifo must have negotiated its personal phrases with authorities moderately than disown the end result of a negotiation it didn’t take part in.
But Osifo countered that discussions on employees’ welfare and the allowance had begun lengthy earlier than Ajaero’s assembly with authorities, including that authorities had individually engaged the TUC.
However, talking on the programme yesterday, Ajaero maintained that the N70,000 allowance was the product of collective bargaining triggered by an ultimatum issued by the NLC.
“When he (Osifo) stated I didn’t negotiate N70,000 transport allowance, I didn’t know what he meant. We (NLC) gave the federal government an ultimatum and the federal government requested for 4 days to satisfy with us.
“At the resumed sitting after four days, some agreements were reached. After every collective bargaining, the product is the agreement. It was in that agreement that the issue of N70,000 was reached,” he stated.
Ajaero went additional to query Osifo’s stewardship of the TUC and the whereabouts of the 90 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses donated to the TUC by the federal authorities.
Describing Osifo as an “absentee president,” Ajaero alleged that the TUC chief doesn’t reside in Nigeria and was solely operating the union from overseas.
“He is an absentee president of the TUC. He does not live in Nigeria. He comes in from the US to attend meetings and rush back. He serves in the board of PENCOM. You cannot be living abroad and be holding a position in a central level organisation. I challenge him and the Nigeria Immigration Service to prove if he has been in this country for four to five months this year,” he added.
But in a reply after Ajaero’s interview, Osifo fired again strongly, saying the labour motion deserved higher management and that Ajaero deserved to be pitied. He described the NLC chief as a catastrophe.
Besides, Osifo stated the labour motion deserved some pity too after listening to the NLC president, noting that the motion as soon as boasted nice leaders. “I can boldly say that Joe Ajaero is a disaster to the trade union movement in Nigeria,” Osifo stated.
The TUC president insisted that the NLC couldn’t negotiate on behalf of TUC members, as the congress stays a recognised federation with its personal associates and mandate.
On the allegation that he lives outdoors the nation, Osifo stated it was a disgrace that such a declare would come from the NLC president.
He disclosed that earlier than handing over as President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in August, he shuttled from one store flooring to a different negotiating wage increments for members.
Osifo stated he was at the moment in the United Kingdom for coaching on superior management and administration and accused Ajaero of shortchanging Nigerian employees on account of poor negotiation expertise.
“Ajaero has never led any union in Nigeria that is why he does not understand the principles of negotiation,” Osifo stated. “What I will recommend for him is training and retraining,” he added.
For years, though the labour unions have had their variations, they’ve struggled to talk with one voice on main points that have an effect on employees.
