NLC To Begin Nationwide Strike August 2

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced a plan to embark on a nationwide strike from August 2, 2023.

This is as the NLC issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to reverse all perceived anti-poor policies, including the recent hike in the pump price of petrol, to shelve the planned industrial action.

According to Vanguard, the NLC has also directed all its affiliates and state councils to immediately begin mobilisation of workers and other Nigerians, including civil society allies, for a long-lasting strike and mass protests should the government fail to meet its demands.

This is said to be one of the decisions reached at NLC’s Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting held Tuesday, July 25, at Abuja Labour House.

Resident Doctors Declare Indefinite Nationwide Strike

Meanwhile, medical doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike.

Naija News reports that the doctors declared the strike on Tuesday night during the National Executive Council meeting in Lagos.

The President of the association, Dr Orji Emeka Innocent, said the strike would commence at midnight on Tuesday.

This platform reports that the strike comes after a two-week ultimatum was given to the Federal Government by NARD for its demands to be implemented.

In a communique issued after its virtual extraordinary national executive council (NEC) meeting on Tuesday, the doctors said despite giving a two-week ultimatum, the government was slow to respond to their demand.

The communique said, “The resolutions of the conciliatory meeting chaired by the then Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment were yet to be implemented, seven weeks after, despite the set timelines for their implementation.”

The NARD president noted that the significant demands of the association are: immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement, payment of skipping arrears, and upward review of CONMESS in line with complete salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS.

Others are payment of the arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum to the omitted doctors, reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN ), payment of MRTF, new hazard allowance, skipping and implementation of corrected CONMESS in State Tertiary Health Institutions and payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears.