NLC, TUC Clash Over ₦70,000 Workers' Transport Allowance

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have clashed over whose authority it is to negotiate wages and allowances on behalf of Nigerian workers with the Federal Government.

The controversy follows the Federal Government's approval of a ₦70,000 transport intervention for workers across all levels for six months.

While speaking on Channels Television's The Morning Brief on Monday, NLC President Joe Ajaero argued that the NLC has the power to negotiate alone on labour matters based on the principle of most representative workers of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

"TUC can negotiate along with NLC, but NLC can negotiate alone based on the principle of most workers representatives of the ILO," Ajaero said.

On his part, TUC President Festus Osifo, who also appeared as a guest on the programme, described the ₦70,000 agreement by the NLC President as an aberration, saying the TUC was not carried along in the negotiations.

Osifo challenged Ajaero to produce the ILO regulation that says either of the labour unions could negotiate on behalf of the other.

"He should show me in the ILO Regulations where it says one party is going to negotiate without the other one being there or consulted. He should show me! He should show Nigerians!" Osifo said.

Ajaero maintained that the NLC determines how the TUC participates, adding that the TUC does not submit its proposal to the NLC, but the other way round.

"There is nowhere in ILO regulations that says a trade centre cannot negotiate for its members. It is not there! It is just that if you are going to the ILO, it is tripartite - the labour, government and the employers," Osifo argued.

Ajaero, responding to Osifo's claim of having over 300,000 members in the federal civil service, said the 2005 Trade Union Amendment Act made membership of trade unions voluntary.

"It is the worker that determines the union he belongs to," Ajaero said, citing Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He argued that only one member union of TUC belongs to the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNC), which consists of eight union bodies, while seven of them are in NLC.

Osifo insisted that the two centres must come together to negotiate, noting that the meeting where the ₦70,000 transport allowance was agreed upon was not a JNC meeting.

"But that meeting that took place was not the Council meeting. The Minister is not a member of the Council. Ajaero is not a member of the Council. The Council even has a quorum and the number of persons that must be seated to form a quorum. But at the end of the day, that meeting was not a JNC meeting. The members of JNC were not there!" Osifo said.

Ajaero, however, maintained that the NLC engaged with the federal government to secure the allowance after issuing an ultimatum.

"We gave the government an ultimatum; we were supposed to start an action. The government asked for four days to meet with us, and we met, and they resumed sitting after four days. After the meeting, the 70k allowance came up," Ajaero said.