The federal government has another union matter to contend with apart from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), who recently threatened a protest over the recent approval of 50% tariff hike for telecoms.
This time around, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has also threatened to go on strike if the Federal Government does not rescind its decision on the telecoms tariff hike.
The President of the TUC, Festus Osifo, said this on Channels TV on Thursday after the union’s meeting where it condemned the tariff hike, describing it as ill-timed and act of economic oppression against Nigerians.
Recall that the FG had set a committee to review the approved tariff hike after its meeting with the NLC on Monday, the development which prompted the latter to suspend its planned protest.
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Asked if the union will down tools and enter the streets if the FG doesn’t act on their demand for the reversal of the decision, Osifo replied, “Yes! Correct!”
On the date the action will begin, Osifo said, “What we had today is the NAC meeting to bring about the sensitization. After that, we will have the CWC meeting and the NEC meeting. So, it is the responsibility of NEC of TUC to give a date and define the next line of action.”
The TUC president advised the Federal Government to tackle the root cause of the problem which he said is foreign exchange rate management rather than the symptoms.
“If you know what the root cause of the problem is, why would you start looking at the symptoms? So, all the increment that we are seeing today is the symptoms of the FX mismanagement.
“So, all we are asking is that let us sit down, let us look at how we can go back to that root cause because we strongly believe that if that root cause is addressed, there is no need for these symptoms to prop up,” Osifo said.
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He acknowledged that the telecoms are facing high costs of operations, but said that it would be better for them for the government to provide economic stability that will reduce the cost of operation instead of always looking to increase tariffs.
The proposed telecom tariff increase has raised dust among labour unions and civil society organisations. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had fixed a protest on Tuesday but suspended the action following a talk with representatives of the Federal Government.
After extensive deliberation, both the NLC and the FG agreed to set up a 10-man committee comprising five members from both parties to review and submit its report within two weeks.