The leadership crisis within organised labour has deepened as the presidents of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo, exchanged arguments over the authority of the two labour centres to negotiate workers' salaries and allowances.
The disagreement followed the Federal Government's approval of a N70,000 monthly transport allowance for workers across all levels for six months, with the TUC accusing the NLC of excluding it from negotiations that produced the arrangement.
While TUC President, Festus Osifo, insisted that the two labour centres must participate in negotiations affecting their members, his NLC counterpart, Joe Ajaero, argued that the NLC could negotiate independently because of its numerical strength and the principle of majority representation recognised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Both labour leaders expressed their positions separately on Monday during appearances on Channels Television's The Morning Brief.
Osifo described the N70,000 allowance agreement as an aberration, arguing that the NLC had no authority to negotiate on behalf of TUC members without consulting the organisation.
He maintained that although the NLC had more affiliated unions, the TUC also represented a substantial number of workers and was entitled to participate in negotiations concerning their welfare.
The TUC president challenged Ajaero to produce any ILO regulation authorising one labour centre to negotiate on behalf of another without its involvement.
“There is nowhere in ILO regulations that says a trade centre cannot negotiate for its members. It is not there,” Osifo said.
He explained that the ILO's tripartite arrangement involved labour, government and employers, stressing that the membership of both labour centres was brought together for representation at the international organisation.
“In that case, the two bodies must come together. We are not contesting the fact that NLC has more affiliates. But what we are saying is that you have about 60 affiliates while we have about 40. You cannot negotiate for a body that is represented, for a body that has a trade union. You cannot negotiate for them on their behalf,” he said.
Osifo also questioned Ajaero's interpretation of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), insisting that the meeting at which the N70,000 allowance was agreed upon was not a properly constituted meeting of the council.
According to him, the council has established membership and quorum requirements which were not satisfied at the meeting.
He argued that the presence of the Minister of Labour and the NLC president did not make the gathering a council meeting, as neither was a member of the negotiating body.
“The council even has a quorum and the number of persons that must be seated to form a quorum. But at the end of the day, that meeting was not a JNC meeting. The members of JNC were not there,” he said.
The TUC president also accused the NLC leadership of mishandling the consequential adjustment arising from the increase in the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000.
He said the NLC had directed the negotiating council to apply the N40,000 difference uniformly across workers' salaries, rather than allow the council to determine appropriate adjustments through negotiations.
Osifo argued that the approach had contributed to the poor earnings of federal workers, describing it as fundamentally flawed.
“What you are supposed to do is that JNC will have to sit down and apply consequential adjustments.
“You know what Ajaero used JNC to do? Ajaero sent JNC a questionnaire and asked them to apply N40,000 each to Nigerian workers,” he said.
He added that he had personally confronted Ajaero over the matter, urging him to embrace continuous learning and a better understanding of contemporary industrial relations.
However, Ajaero rejected Osifo's interpretation of labour representation, maintaining that the NLC had the authority to negotiate independently while the TUC could only participate alongside it.
According to him, the principle of majority representation under the ILO framework gives the NLC the leading mandate in negotiations because it represents more workers.
“TUC can negotiate along with NLC but NLC can negotiate alone based on the principle of most workers' representatives of the ILO,” he said.
Ajaero further claimed that the TUC was required to submit its proposals through the NLC when dealing with the ILO, citing an earlier instance when the TUC's independent submission was reportedly returned.
“TUC sent their negotiation alone ahead of the ILO conference but they returned it back and I had to minuted on it.
“They have to send their list here for me to forward it; that is the position of the ILO. NLC determines how TUC participates,” he said.
He also argued that the Ministry of Labour and other labour authorities would not recognise the TUC as an independent negotiating body in dealings with the government.
On the composition of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, Ajaero said seven of the eight union bodies represented in the council were affiliated with the NLC, while only one belonged to the TUC.
He maintained that the TUC-affiliated union had subjected its powers to the joint council, thereby limiting the basis for the TUC's claim to independent representation through the platform.
The NLC president also defended the circumstances surrounding the transport allowance agreement, saying it followed pressure mounted on the Federal Government through an ultimatum.
He explained that the government had requested four days to meet with labour leaders before the discussions that resulted in the N70,000 allowance.
“We gave government an ultimatum; we were supposed to start an action. The government asked for four days and to meet with us, and we met, and they resumed sitting after four days. After the meeting, the 70k allowance came up,” he said.
Ajaero further invoked the Trade Union Amendment Act 2005 and Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to argue that workers had the freedom to choose their unions.
He said the law made union membership voluntary, adding that every worker had the constitutional right to belong to a trade union of their choice.
“The 2005 Trade Union Amendment Act made membership of trade unions voluntary. It is the worker that determines the union he belongs to,” he said.
The disagreement highlights growing divisions between the two major labour centres at a time when Nigerian workers are demanding improved wages and better welfare conditions amid persistent economic pressures.
It also raises questions about the representation of organised labour in negotiations with the Federal Government and whether the two centres can sustain a common front on issues affecting workers nationwide.
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