Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has again raised an alarm that the Federal Government is working tirelessly to weaken the labour movement by facilitating the registration of a new labour centre.?
The President of the Congress, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, who spoke yesterday at the 10th NLC Rain School 2012, holding in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, described the move as illegal and against the extant labour law.
Omar who spoke on the theme , “Labour, Popular Power and the Quest for a New Nigeria,” however blamed the current move on the last January 2012 nation-wide protest, because, according to him, it? is still fresh in the minds of government.
He said, “As workers we must sit up; we must be watchful so that people will not come and give us sweet talk. At the end of the day, it is our integrity, our work and our welfare that will be affected.????
“Since that time, since the end of that action, government has never relented in trying to figure out ways to weaken the labour movement in this country, particularly the NLC. I must tell you, the starting point to them was to come up with obnoxious amendments to the Labour Act to provide that for any union to go on strike, that union must cast vote and that 50 per cent of the entire membership of that union must accept to go on strike.”