The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, in the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, have rejected Minister Nyesom Wike’s directive to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy against striking workers.
NLC FCT Council Chairman, Mr Knabayi Adalo, and NUT FCT Wing Secretary, Mrs Margaret Jethro, stated their positions in separate circulars to members on Sunday.
The circulars, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday, described the directive as “unconstitutional, illegal, provocative and unenforceable”.
Wike had on Friday directed area council chairmen to enforce the policy against workers participating in the indefinite strike declared by the NLC on October 7 over unresolved disputes between the FCT Administration and the NUT.
The minister also directed the FCT Head of Civil Service, school principals and headteachers to open daily attendance registers to monitor workers who failed to report for duty.
Reacting, Adalo urged affected workers and teachers to remain resolute and disregard threats of salary stoppage and attendance monitoring.
He said strike action was a legitimate tool recognised under Nigerian law and international labour standards.
Adalo cited Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, the Trade Unions Act and International Labour Organisation Conventions 87, 98 and 151, which he said guaranteed workers the right to strike after due process.
“The NLC FCT has fulfilled all legal conditions,” he said.
On the threat to withhold salaries, Adalo argued that Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act applied only to illegal strikes.
He accused the FCT Administration of creating the conditions that led to the industrial action through what he described as violations of teachers’ rights.
He identified the imposition of a vacancy clause on teachers’ promotions and the demotion of directors covered by the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022, as key grievances.
Adalo also cited previous judgments of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which he said supported workers’ entitlement to salaries in certain circumstances involving legitimate strikes.
He maintained that salaries should not be withheld when workers embarked on lawful industrial action in response to an employer’s breach of agreement.
Addressing reports that some school heads were compelling teachers to sign attendance registers, Adalo directed union members not to sign them.
Also Read: FCT Labour Unions disagree on indefinite strike
He argued that attendance registers opened during the strike had no legal value and could be used to divide workers.
“Participation in a union-declared strike is lawful industrial action, not absenteeism,” he said.
Adalo instructed workers facing queries, threats or harassment to report to the NLC FCT Council Secretariat with evidence.
He warned that principals and headteachers who forced teachers to sign attendance registers or submitted lists for punitive action would be held personally responsible.
He added that the union could organise picketing against such administrators.
The labour chairman urged the FCT Administration to address the workers’ grievances rather than resort to intimidation.
He demanded the removal of the vacancy clause, the conduct of the 2025 promotion exercise and the full reinstatement of demoted directors.
“We assure all teachers and workers that the NLC will protect your jobs and salaries. No worker will be victimised,” he said.
Jethro also described the no-work, no-pay directive as illegal and an empty threat, urging teachers not to resume work out of fear.
“We must remain resolute. Do not chicken out; we must fight this battle together and now,” she said.
She urged teachers not to panic, submit to intimidation or sign attendance registers, insisting that the strike was lawful and constitutionally guaranteed.
Jethro maintained that the union’s demands were based on workers’ welfare and were not politically motivated.
“Our demands are genuine and not political, as is being insinuated. We are asking for our welfare, not for power,” she said.
The NUT secretary thanked teachers for participating in the strike despite what she described as a “betrayal” by the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, which she accused of withdrawing from the industrial action.
She urged teachers to remain peaceful and law-abiding while staying away from work.
NAN
