Aborted Labour strike: Why The Federal Government surrendered to Labour

[Briggz5d]

More facts have emerged as to why the Federal Government, Tuesday, night yielded to Labour’s demand to pay all civil servants from level 01 – 17  contrary to earlier position that only core civil servants from levels  01-06 would benefit from the N18,000 new minimum wage.

The Federal Government had Monday, told the leaders of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, that it only budgeted for the payment of levels 01-06 and pleaded with them that levels 07-17 would be paid in January, 2012.

Besides, the government said workers in its parastatals and agencies would not benefit from the new wage package.

However, Ngbuzz investigations revealed that frightening security reports across the country, pressure from senior citizens and respected Nigerians and groups and fear over the nation’s fragile economy forced the government to surrender to Labour.

According to Ngbuzz’s sources, government felt that the consequence outweighed the cost of paying the N18,000 minimum wage .

Inaugural Federal Executive Council (FEC) Meeting Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Governors especially those from the North were said to have suddenly made a u-turn and pushed for agreement.
Some of the governors were said to have confided in their colleagues that they did not want to incur the wrath of their subjects.

According to a highly placed source, “at the beginning, government thought labour was bluffing.  Government officials misunderstood the leadership style of the current leaders of labour. They thought they could not bite. But when security reports across the country turned in alarming level of mobilization that could compound the security challenges in the country, the government had no other choice than to cave in.

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