The Nigeria Labour Congress is set engage the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, in a battle over the sacking of about 36,000 workers in the state.
On Thursday, the union will embark on a protest in the commencement of a number of actions lined up to curb the alleged excesses of the state governor.
The decision of the NLC was made known on Tuesday by its National President, Ayuba Wabba, at a press conference in Abuja.
Describing the protest as a means to defend the constitutional rights of the affected workers in the state, NLC also called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in the sack of the workers in Kaduna.
The NLC president said the sack of the workers, was illegal and unacceptable, going by the means through which the exercise was carried out.
The NLC also expressed worry over the consequence of the action at a time when Nigeria was still facing economic hardship.
Said the union: “Our concerns, and indeed those of well-meaning Nigerians include the illegal and unacceptable processes employed by the Governor and their direct impact on thousands of dependants of 36,000 workers and their families thrown in one fell swoop into the unemployment market.
“More worrisome are the grievous and negative implications of this in a state grappling with social tensions and societal ills such as kidnappings, armed robberies, killings among others.”
The labour union said it was unfortunate that the sacking of the workers was propelled by the governor’s desire to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The union argued that “No sane and humane society will contemplate such inconsiderate policy as a mass sack, talk less of implementing it at a time everyone, particularly policy makers have made us believe that the country is barely out of recession.”
The union reasoned further: “Serious minds in both the public and private sectors are focused on reflating the economy, creating jobs and curbing all forms of social insecurity. Thus, we find the actions of El-Rufai totally inhuman and economically illogical, and not worth venturing into.
“It is apparent that El-Rufai’s approach is a clear violation and abuse of the tenets and provisions of our labour laws and well known international best practices, and are capable of exacerbating social tensions and societal ills in the state.”
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The union said it had decided to embark on a protest because the governor had refused to give room for genuine resolution of the crisis.
“In conformity with international best practices and recognised industrial relations engagement, the trade unions had taken the path of conciliation under the auspices of the Honourable Minister of Labour and adjudication at the National Industrial Court (NIC).
“To our consternation, Governor El-Rufia did not only jettison the conciliation process which was bogged down by his unreasonable tirades, but brazenly refused to obey the order of the court that all processes in the sacking of teachers should be put on hold until the determination of the case,” he union explained.
It would be recalled that Governor El-Rufai, laste last year announced the decision to sack about 21,000 teachers said to have failed a competency test organised by the state government.
The teachers as well as the NLC condemned the decision arguing that the state government did not go through the right procedure in conducting the test.
The teachers added that they were granted an interlocutory injunction by the National Industrial Court, Kaduna on December 4, 2017, restraining the state government from disengaging any teacher pending the determination of the case.
The court order which was said to have been served the governor was not respected as he ordered the distribution of the letters of disengagement to the affected teachers, dated November 3rd, 2017.
Apparently frustrated by the refusal of the governor to yield, the teachers commenced an industrial action on Monday.
The protest planned for Thursday by the NLC is to further mount pressure on the state governor to rescind his decision.