Indications have emanated from several quarters that the Nigeria Labour Congress and its affiliate organisations may decide to call of the general strike it embarked upon nearly a week ago by Monday.
This news comes as talks between the leadership and labour held over the weekend seemed to have yielded some fruits as the Federal government agreed to recommence the meeting of the Tripartite Committee on the new minimum wage which has been scheduled for October 4, 2018.
It was also gathered that labour leaders who insisted that the committee must reach a final agreement during the meeting were prevailed upon to soft-pedal to allow the committee to conclude action on the matter.
The Presidency had waded into the labour crisis on Thursday as it tried to persuade labour to call of the general strike as a meeting with the leadership of Labour pleading that economic activities were grounded to a halt in different part of the country.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba had emerged from that meeting on a positive note as he told journalists afterwards that the meeting was fruitful.
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Wabba had also promised that the outcome of the meeting would be tabled before relevant organs of the organised labour to determine the next line of action.
Although he said the Federal government had promised to address the agitation of labour in the country, he failed to state what kind of promises had been made.
Also on Friday, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, had released a statement, saying that the federal government was working assiduously to ensure the strike was called off.
“The Presidency wishes to assure that the federal government is taking every step necessary to get the unions to call off the strike,” Shehu said.
He had further informed the country that labour had accepted the federal government’s demand to reconvene the tripartite committee meeting on the proposed new national minimum wage.
According to him, the meeting between the leadership of labour and representatives of various employers of labour, including the federal and state governments, has been rescheduled to reconvene on October 4.
The Nigeria Labour Congress as well as its affiliate labour unions had declared a general strike on Thursday after negotiations regarding the proposed new minimum wage between the Federal Government and the trade unions broke down.
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