By Alice Etuka, Abuja
In compliance with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ongoing strike, members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) have stopped the supply of water to the National Assembly.
The strike which started on Monday, June 3, 2024 recorded a good number of compliance as offices were seen under lock and key with the NLC flag hanging over the gates.
PASAN temporarily suspended electricity and water supply to the two structures accommodating the Senate and the House of Representatives, along with other amenities within the National Assembly compound.
On Tuesday, the Federal Government and organised labour held a meeting which ended in a deadlock after the government and organised private sector raised their offers to N60,000.
The government added N3,000 to its initial offer of N57,000 proposed last week, taking the total figure to N60,000. This was dismissed by labour at the meeting.
The labour union again lowered its demand by removing N3,000 from the N497,000 it proposed last week, pegging the new proposal at N494,000.
Reaching no consensus, the duo held another meeting on Friday. This did not yield a positive result too as government failed to shift grounds on the N60,000 it proposed during the last meeting.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero then declared that a strike action be embarked upon, adding that the meeting with the federal government demonstrated the unseriousness and apparent contempt with which the Nigerian state holds the demands of Nigerian workers and people:
“No governor was present and ministers absent except the Minister of State for Labour and Employment who doubles as a conciliator. There was none present on the side of the government with the appropriate authority to commit them to any outcome; in essence, the government abandoned the meeting. We consider this disdainful and shows a lack of commitment to a successful National Minimum Wage negotiation exercise,” he said.
