ACF to Labour leaders: don’t truncate democracy

The  Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday faulted the planned strike by organized labour 40 days to the commencement of the 2019 elections.

The forum said while it is all for the wellbeing of workers, it is worried about the “threat to industrial peace and harmony” posed by the planned strike.

Labour is mobilizing workers to commence a strike over the stalemate with government on the N30,000 new minimum wage.

The ACF in  a statement yesterday in Kaduna by its  National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim Biu,   said the public “is getting extremely alarmed by the risky method they (labour) have chosen to fight for the welfare of their members.”

He said: “the Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF) has nothing but sympathy and goodwill towards all Nigerian workers who continue to toil in an increasingly difficult economic environment. We also support whatever they or their unions legitimately do to improve on their welfare.

“However, ACF wishes to draw the attention of the labour and trade union organizations to the fact that the public is getting extremely alarmed by the risky method they have chosen to fight for the welfare of their members.

“It will be recalled that ASUU, ASUP and other unions in our tertiary institutions have been on “total, comprehensive and indefinite” strike almost 100 days to our general elections. And now, about 40 days to the elections, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is threatening not only to call its members out on a “total and prolonged” strike but to “mobilize” them to paralyze the country.

“The ACF is very much worried and concerned with this threat to industrial peace and harmony, and hereby appeals to the leadership of NLC and other trade unions to place the interest of the country above all other considerations.

“Workers’ welfare can only be improved if the country is working and the general elections that is at the heart of our democracy is allowed to take place in a peaceful environment. We cannot afford to truncate our hard earned democracy at this material time when all hands are expected to be on deck to move the country forward.

“We therefore urge the labour leaders to remain patriots and prevail on their members to suspend the proposed total strike and for ASUU and ASUP, we appeal that they call off the strike and return to the negotiation table.

“ACF urges all interested parties to note that the issue of minimum wage transcends all sectors of the economy, hence the need for workers in both public, private sectors and governments to come together and agree on what the economy can accommodate, after which a bill to that effect can be transmitted to the National Assembly forthwith.”