The Trade Union Congress (TUC) claims that the union did not betray the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) by refusing to participate in the two-day protest declared by the NLC.
Recall that the NLC recently launched a nationwide protest over the country's level of hardship and the Federal Government's failure to negotiate a new minimum wage.
On Channels TV's 'Politics Today' on Friday, TUC President, Festus Osifo stated that the union never agreed to participate in a protest with the NLC.
He said, 'I'll just explain what happened to you. Now, when you say someone opts out of a process, it means that the person was previously involved, and there was an agreement to do something. The word ''sold out'' can be used in that context. But in this case, there wasn’t any agreement to do anything.
He clearly stated that they did not have any conversation; ''nobody even mentioned to us that this is the direction to go. That conversation never took place. So as long as that also never took place, we never opted out of anything".
Meanwhile, Osifo stated that he agrees with NLC President Joe Ajaero, who stated that they are not concerned with President Tinubu's stance but are demanding the implementation of all agreements reached between labour unions and the Federal Government following the removal of fuel subsidies.
Tinubu told labour unions in Lagos on Thursday that if they want to be involved in politics, they should wait until 2027, and that strike activities in his administration's first nine months are unacceptable.
