The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Federal Capital Territory Council, and the Nigeria Union of Teachers, TUC, FCT Wing, have dismissed Minister Nyesom Wike’s threat to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy against striking workers.
Mr Knabayi Adalo, Chairman of the NLC FCT Council, and Mrs Margaret Jethro, Secretary of the NUT FCT Wing, made their positions known in separate circulars issued to members on Sunday.
In the circulars, which were made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday, they called the directive “unconstitutional, illegal, provocative, and unenforceable.”
On Friday, Wike, the FCT Minister, had instructed area council chairmen to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy against workers taking part in the strike.
The directive came after the indefinite strike that the NLC declared on Oct. 7 regarding unresolved issues between the FCT Administration and the NUT.
The minister also instructed the FCT Head of Civil Service, principals, and headteachers to keep daily attendance registers in order to track absentees.
In response, Adalo called on the affected workers and teachers to stay firm and ignore threats of salary stoppage or attendance monitoring.
Reassuring workers throughout the FCT, he emphasized that strike action remains a legitimate tool recognized under Nigerian law and international labor standards.
“Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, the Trade Unions Act, and ILO Conventions 87, 98, and 151, all ratified by Nigeria, guarantee workers’ right to embark on strike after due process.
“The NLC FCT has fulfilled all legal conditions,” Adalo stated.
Responding to the threat of withheld salaries, the labor chairman contended that the no-work, no-pay provision in Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act applied solely to strikes that were illegal.
He maintained that employers should not be allowed to benefit from their own misconduct when they were the ones who brought about the conditions that made industrial action necessary.
In his view, the FCT Administration had provoked the strike by infringing on teachers‘ rights through the introduction of a vacancy clause affecting their promotions.
“Another issue is the demotion of directors who are legitimate beneficiaries of the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022,” he said.
Adalo also referenced earlier rulings from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which he claimed backed workers’ right to salaries in specific situations involving lawful strikes.
He insisted that withholding salaries was not lawful when employees took part in a legitimate strike caused by an employer’s violation of an agreement.
In response to reports that certain school heads were compelling teachers to sign attendance registers, Adalo instructed union members to decline signing them.
He contended that attendance registers introduced during a strike carried no legal weight and functioned merely as a trap to sow division among workers.
“Participation in a union-declared strike is lawful industrial action, not absenteeism.
“Workers facing queries, threats, or harassment are instructed to report immediately to the NLC FCT Council Secretariat with evidence,” he said.
Adalo cautioned that principals or headteachers who compelled teachers to sign attendance registers or turned in lists for punitive measures would be held personally accountable.
He further stated that the union would single out such administrators for picketing.
He insisted that the FCT Administration ought to tackle the underlying grievances instead of turning to intimidation.
He called for the immediate scrapping of the vacancy clause, the carrying out of the 2025 promotion exercise, and the complete reinstatement of the demoted directors.
“We assure all teachers and workers that the NLC will protect your jobs and salaries. No worker will be victimized,” Adalo affirmed.
Jethro also called the no-work, no-pay directive illegal and an empty threat, and he encouraged teachers not to return to their duties out of fear.
“We must remain resolute. Do not chicken out; we must fight this battle together and now.
“We urge you not to panic, not to be intimidated, and not to sign any attendance register. Shun the threat; the ongoing strike is legal and constitutionally guaranteed.
“Our demands are genuine and not political, as is being insinuated. We are asking for our welfare, not for power,” she said.
The secretary expressed gratitude to teachers for honoring the strike in the interest of their welfare, even though she characterized the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) as having committed a “betrayal.”
She claimed that the union had betrayed teachers by pulling out of the strike.
“We urge you to remain peaceful and law-abiding while you stay at home,” she said.
