FG set to enforce ‘no work, no pay’ law

-Federal Government set to activate ‘no work, no pay.’

-The development was said to be contained in Trade Disputes of the Federation.

-Any worker who embarks on strike will not be paid for that period.

The Federal Government has concluded plan to enforce ‘no work, no pay,’ as enclosed in the Trade Disputes of the Federation.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chief Chris Ngige, disclosed this while speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to the minister, once the law becomes active, any worker who embarks on strike will lose his or her pay and pension for that period, adding that the decision formed part of the report of a technical committee established on April 27, 2016.

“First and foremost, the report emphasised the need to implement the law on ‘no work, no pay.’

“The ‘no work, no pay’ is not a rule, neither is it a policy. It is a law captured on Trade Disputes Act of Federation.

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“Section 43 to be precise says that workers have a right to disengage from an employer if there is a break down in discussions or negotiation. But for the period that the worker does so, the employer should not pay and those periods are to be counted as non-pensionable times in the period of work.

“So council today re-emphasised that that law is still in force and that it should be brought to the knowledge of workers in the public and private sector, especially those in the public sector. We have to do that because of the spate of industrial crisis we have suffered in the last two months, when we had plethora of strikes all over the place.

“So council has said this should be re emphasised to workers so that they will know. Meanwhile for the strike embarked upon the last time, we will see what we can do about that because there is a law in place,” Ngige said.

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Ngige said the council also addressed unions whose activities are not contained in the constitutions.

“It was agreed that my ministry should continue with our work in terms of fishing out the unions that don’t have constitutions that prescribe time limit for their elected officers.

“Such unions should be made to comply with the law, so that people can be elected they serve out their term and other people will take their place. That is democracy at work,” he added.