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The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has presented its list of demands to the federal government to cushion the effect of petrol subsidy removal on citizens.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the TUC demanded for increase in the minimum wage, tax holiday for certain categories of people as well as reverting to status quo for negotiations continue.
Recall that a federal government delegation held a meeting with representatives of organised labour, excluding the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Sunday night.
Dele Alake, spokesperson for the government’s delegation to the meeting, told state house correspondents after the meeting that most of the demands “are not impracticable”.
“We said we were going to reconvene to keep the engagement on to defuse the tension in the land as a result of the withdrawal of subsidy, which is a reality.
”Now we are very happy to announce to Nigerians that this engagement has been very productive and the TUC that attended today’s meeting presented a list of demands, which we have studied and we are going to present to the President for his consideration.
“But we can announce to Nigerians that a lot of the items on the TUC list are not impracticable,” Alake said.
While the government acknowledged the feasibility of the demands, they said the demands would be presented to President Bola Tinubu with immediate effect.
Alake said the president’s decisions will be relayed to labour leaders at the next round of negotiations fixed for Tuesday.
Asked if the other demand by the organised labour that the new pump price of petrol be reversed pending conclusion of negotiations, Alake said the decision would likely be taken on Tuesday when both sides meet again.
On NLC’s absence, he said it may be attributed to the inability to finalise with the NEC of the union before the meeting.
Nonetheless, negotiations will continue with all labour unions and stakeholders, he said.
Speaking to journalists, Festus Osifo, TUC president, said while some progress has been made with the negotiations, the union would still brief its members ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
“We were here on Wednesday last week and after that meeting, the government gave us its position; telling us why they did what they did. So, on our part we did not agree with them so they presented some things they considered as palliatives but we told them we were going back to discuss with our respective organs.
“So, we summoned the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria on Friday and at that meeting, the NEC mandated us with a list of demands to present to the government, which we did today.
“Part of those demands is to increase the minimum wage and they have also told us that they need to present these demands to the President so that we will reconvene on Tuesday. Topmost of our demands is that for utmost good fate and in the interest of social dialogue, they should revert the pump price while discussions continue,” Osifo said.
