Former national leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, have waded into the quarrel between NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo, over the Federal Government’s transport allowance for public sector workers.
The disagreement, which degenerated into heated personal attacks on national television, has caused serious tension inside the labour movement.
Confirming the intervention on Wednesday in Abuja, former NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said respected labour elders had already held separate talks with the two union leaders and got them to agree to stop further public attacks pending a full reconciliatory meeting.
Wabba described the clash as a domestic quarrel that should be settled internally through dialogue.
“It is a family misunderstanding between the two centres, and we have made it clear that workers’ organisations are supposed to be one because the objective is one and the aim is one,” Wabba said.
He said the misunderstanding has already escalated, and that the elders have told both leaders that all hostilities must stop.
“We will actually try to meet with them to see what happened and how future occurrences can also be prevented,” he added.
He named the elder trade unionists driving the peace move as former TUC President Peter Esele, former TUC President Bobboi Kaigama, pioneer NLC President Hassan Sunmonu, former NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar, and himself.
He explained that the peace move is not only to calm the present tension but also to put in place measures that will prevent similar intra-labour disputes in the future.
It was gathered that the quarrel started after Ajaero signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government on the N70,000 transport allowance without carrying the TUC along, a move which Osifo later rejected.
Ajaero had maintained that the NLC can negotiate alone, relying on the principle of the most representative workers’ organisation of the ILO, while Osifo argued that Ajaero cannot negotiate for TUC members and that what workers need is a salary increase, not a temporary transport allowance.
Speaking earlier, Ajaero maintained that the N70,000 transport cushion secured for workers will be added to the overall baseline benefits when formal talks for a new national minimum wage start.
The veterans said a formal reconciliatory meeting will be held as soon as all the parties are available.
