Organised labour on Wednesday suspended the three-day warning strike it called to protest the delay in the implementation of the N18, 000 minimum wage by the federal and state governments.



Acting President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Promise Adewusi, and the President -General of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, announced the suspension of the strike at the end of a joint session of the National Executive of the NLC and the National Working Committee of the TUC in Abuja.



In suspending the strike, the labour leaders lauded President Goodluck Jonathan for his “humility and the commitment of his administration to the implementation of the minimum wage when passed into law.”



Shortly after the announcement, the NLC Acting Head of Information, Mr. Iduh Onah, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, accused the governors surreptitiously frustrating the payment of the new wage of ‘hypocrisy.’



Onah said it was inconceivable for governors receiving the same salary irrespective of differentials in allocations to their states to try to scuttle the payment of the minimum wage.



“This is the hypocrisy we are talking about. This is not about scarcity of resources. They just don’t want to pay. It is this selfishness that is pushing labour to adopt a hard stance on the issue,” he said.



Onah added that what the NLC needed was for the Federal Government to lay the legal framework for the implementation of the new wage and leave its enforcement to labour.



Adewusi had, while reading a statement issued at the end of the NLC NEC and TUC NWC meeting, explained that the strike was called off because the objective of bringing the minimum wage to the front burner had been achieved.



He added that labour decided to go on strike because the minimum wage issue was swept under the carpet, especially by state governments.



Adewusi, who is also the chairman of the NLC Committee on National Strike, said labour would not hesitate to expose some governors engrossed in discreet moves to scuttle the new wage.



The labour leader cited the declaration of the National Assembly that a bill on the new wage would receive accelerated attention as one of the reasons for labour’s decision to opt out of the strike.



He urged Jonathan to send, without delay, the bill to the National Assembly after the meeting of the National Council of State scheduled for October, 25, 2010 to fast track implementation of the new wage.



Adewusi warned that the NLC and the TUC would reject anything less than N18,000.



He said that the labour leaders would convene in the first week of December to review developments on the minimum wage.



The two-page statement by Adewusi; Esele; the NLC General-Secretary, Mr. John Odah; and the TUC Secretary-General, Mr. John Kolawole, also said labour had blacklisted an airline in the country for its alleged role in the shooting of the Edo State Chairman of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Mr. Godwin Ehichioya, in Benin, by a policeman.



The statement urged other affiliate unions to emulate the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers which had halted the supply of aviation fuel to the airline.



It also called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to “investigate, dismiss, and prosecute the policeman who shot the NUATE chairman.”



Investigations revealed that the minimum wage would have been implemented by the Federal Government long ago but for the sustained opposition of the governors to its implementation.



It was learnt that the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, was the only governor who had agreed to implement the new minimum wage in his state during a discussion of the issue by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.



Attempts to obtain a reaction from the NGF Chairman, Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, failed on Wednesday.



Before the suspension of the strike, reports across the states showed that public offices and other critical sectors of the nation’s economy were shut down.



Some of the public workers who ignored the order were turned back by union leaders who went round to ensure that the strike succeeded.



Most banks, schools and airports in Lagos and Abuja also did not operate. Some of the banks that attended to their customers did so through their back doors.



Commercial vehicle operators, however, did not fully comply with the labour leaders’ directive as the roads and motor parks were busy on Wednesday. Many markets also opened for business.



In Lagos, for instance, while private businesses, markets and commercial transport operators ignored the directive, the fleet of the state government-owned Bus Rapid Transit stayed off the roads.



The state secretariat, Alausa, and Lagos State High Court, Magistrates’ Courts and Customary Courts also did not function as their gates were shut.



As part of the strike, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria cut off power supply to the entire secretariat as all the offices were thrown into darkness, including the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre.



The Secretary, Nigeria Civil Service Union, Lagos State branch, Mr. Olasunkanmi Olubade, said as at 9:35am on Wednesday, 95 per cent of civil servants in the state had strike.



He said the remaining five per cent was for those who dared the NLC by reporting for work but were turned back at the gate.



In most of the public schools visited by our correspondents in the state, teachers did not turn up for work. Most pupils too stayed away.



The strike, however, did not affect the ongoing November/December National Examination Council’s senior secondary school certificate examination.



Rumours that NECO might postpone the examination were denied by the examination body.



Although the NECO Registrar, Prof. Promise Okpala, could not be reached, his Special Assistant, who identified himself simply as Dr. Anyanwu, said the examination would go on as scheduled.



In Abuja, passengers were stranded at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport as there were no officials of the airlines and other service providers to attend to them.



A spokesman of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Alfred Itua, said, “There have been no scheduled flights today (Wednesday) except chartered flights. This is in compliance with the warning strike.”



Like in the states, the federal secretariat and schools in Abuja were shut.



Reports from Ibadan, Oyo State indicated that workers complied fully with the directive as the gates of the federal and state secretariats at Agodi and Ikolaba were under lock and key.



At the Federal Secretariat, Ikolaba, officials of the Amalgamated Union of Public Service, Technical and Recreational Employees were seen enforcing the strike by turning back workers who attempted to get to their offices.



In Ondo, where public services and commercial activities in its major towns were also grounded, Akure town was thrown into darkness as workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria stayed away from their duty posts.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101111348775

NLC and others trade unions did well by calling off the strike because these guys in government may start to use divide and rule to polarise these unions. Moreover, the private sectors did not partake, so before government realise the strike did not cripple the economy, wise decision to suspend the industrial actions. How much is N18,000 to billions been stolen by individuals, please pay the poor workers atleast N50,000 as minimum wage I advised Goodluck to extend goodluck to them as well.