The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has given the Federal Government’s negotiating team four weeks to conclude discussions with university-based unions on the 2009 agreement, warning of nationwide industrial action if talks stall.

The government’s negotiating team is headed by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Yayale Ahmed.

The NLC said its organs would convene at the end of the four-week period to review progress and take further action if the negotiations remain unresolved.

In a strong statement, the NLC threatened to mobilise all workers across the country, including members of other unions, to “get to the root of all this” should the government fail to meet its commitments.

The labour congress also expressed solidarity with its affiliate unions in the education sector, endorsing a “no pay, no work” stance in response to the Federal Government’s declaration of a “no work, no pay” policy following a two-week warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The affected unions include ASUU, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), and the College of Education Staff Union (COESU), among others.

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At a meeting in Abuja on Monday, the tertiary institutions-based unions pledged to maintain a united front in ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government to ensure the 2009 agreement is fully implemented.

During the meeting, NLC President Joe Ajaero said: “The NLC, after extensive deliberation with the unions in the tertiary institutions on finding solutions to the perennial problems in that sector, decided to brief you (reporters) that we have resolved at the level of NLC to work with the unions to make sure that we are able to find a lasting solution on the problems that they have been facing all these years.

“We have decided to establish a framework for engagement towards implementation of agreements, outstanding agreements, and towards sustainable funding of education, in line with UNESCO principles of 25 per cent, 26 per cent funding of education, and review of wage structures and allowances in the tertiary institutions, and as well as respect of trade union rights of collective bargaining.

“On this regard, we discovered that those government officials sent to meetings go there without a mandate. Henceforth, nobody in the trade unions, either in the tertiary institutions or anywhere else, will go into any meeting with government representatives who don’t have mandates. Well, that is what is at the point of this crisis.

“You go and finish a negotiation, you sign an agreement, and then you go back to renege. Never again. We will not condone this act. All over the world, agreements are held in very serious dimension.”