By Muhammad Abubakar, Abuja
There seems to be no respite in view in the lingering industrial war between the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA ) and Joint Unions Action Committee(JUAC ) as FCT chapters of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC ) and Trade Union Congress (TUC ) have waded in, vowing to formally write FCT Minister and expand the demands of the angry workers.
This indication emerged late Tuesday night after the meeting which the three unions’ leaders held with FCT Permanent Secretary and other top management staff.
It was gathered that the meeting said to be inconclusive was convened at the instance of FCT Administration, to discuss the demands of angry workers that will be ending their 3-day warning strike Wednesday
Chairman FCT NLC, Abubakar Yakubu, said an expanded demand letter would be sent to FCT Minister to further strenghten the agitations of workers.
FCT TUC Chairman, Ahmodu Olayinka , who confirmed that the meeting was inconclusive, also noted that regrettably FCT administration could not address any of the 17 items in the demands of the workers.
JUAC Chairman, Matilukoro Korode, said the leadership of NLC and TUC vowed that even after the warning strike , workers may proceed on an indefinite strike depending on the outcome of the on going meeting.
Korode disclosed that while the workers problems have not been solved, they have confidence in the leadership of both NLC and TUC and trust that the expanded letter of demand would address all the issues raised, while FCT Minister is expected to swing into action in the implementation.
FCT Director of Human Resources, Mohammed Bashir, who acknowledged that the lingering labour crisis was created by communication gap between management and workers, assured that the demands of JUAC were being addressed.
According to him, the implementation of the FCT-Civil Service Commission was topmost in the labour issues, which FCT Administration was paying attention to.
” We discovered that the gap in communication really contributed to the issues of JUAC particularly the implementation of the FCT-Civil Service Commission that approved by the National Assembly and signed by the President ” , Bashir said.
Recall that the workers among other things have been demanding for the implementation of the FCT-Civil Service Commission Act, signed by the President three years ago.
They claim the Act has removed all the administrative limitations around FCT workers, and also provided for improved welfare packages.