FEC Approves 30 Days Implementation of MoU Agreement With Labour Unions

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a 30-day implementation for the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the federal government and organised labour unions.

The announcement came from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, who gave a briefing to State House correspondents after FEC had a meeting with President Bola Tinubu.

Previously, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) were scheduled to embark on an indefinite strike on October 3 following the removal of fuel subsidy. However, the strike was suspended on October 3 following some talks with the union and its members.

The decision to suspend the strike was made known in a MoU signed by the representatives of the labour unions and the federal government.

According to the MoU, the unions will suspend their strike for 30 days, with parties to the agreement committing “to henceforth abide by the dictates of Social dialogue in all our future engagements.”

Vanguard said that the MoU also stipulated that the document shall be filed in the “relevant court of competent jurisdiction within one (1) week as a consent judgment by the Federal Government.”

On Monday, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, said the MoU was submitted to the council on the implementation of the agreement with labour.

He said,

• We presented a memo from the Federal Ministry for Labour and Employment, precisely on the arrangement of the agreements between the government and Labour.

• You are already aware of all about 15 or 14 items as part of the agreements. But we went beyond mere agreements to tell them that something different this time was happening because one part of the agreement was to file it in a court of law, for which we set the process already, and the other one was the presidential approval.

He also added that there will not be any presidential approval other than the federal executive council.

• So we presented them to the Federal Executive Council, and we analyzed every aspect of the agreement to show its genuineness and also provide for a harmonious and good industrial relationship. And that was why it was presented, and it was approved for implementation.

• Initially, yes, it was agreed that within 30 days, there must be evidence of implementation. I think that was the basis for presenting to the Federal Executive Council. The federal executive council also approved that, within these 30 days, we’ll go on with the implementation of the agreement between labour and the government.

• Well, the sixth item was about interference, specifically with issues that were about Road Transport Workers and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN). The next day, we embarked on meetings between the two organizations.