Wike’s no-work, no-pay directive unconstitutional, unenforceable – NLC, NUT

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council, and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), 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, stated their positions in separate circulars to members on Sunday. In the circulars made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, they described the directive as “unconstitutional, illegal, provocative and unenforceable”.

Wike, the FCT minister, had on Friday directed area council chairmen to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy against workers participating in the strike. The directive followed the indefinite strike declared by the NLC on Oct. 7 over unresolved issues between the FCT Administration and the NUT.

The minister also directed the FCT Head of Civil Service, principals and headteachers to open daily attendance registers to track absentees. Reacting, Adalo urged affected workers and teachers to remain steadfast and disregard threats of salary stoppage or attendance monitoring. Reassuring workers across the FCT, he stressed that strike action remained a legitimate tool recognised under Nigerian law and international labour 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. Addressing the threat to withhold salaries, the labour chairman argued that the no-work, no-pay rule under Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act applied only to illegal strikes.

He asserted that employers could not profit from their own wrongdoing when they created conditions necessitating industrial action. According to him, the FCT Administration provoked the strike by violating teachers’ rights through the imposition of a vacancy clause on their promotions. “Another issue is the demotion of directors who are legitimate beneficiaries of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022,” he said.

Adalo also cited previous judgments by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which he said supported workers’ entitlement to salaries in certain circumstances involving legitimate strikes. Mr Wike on Friday directed area council chairpersons to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy against workers participating in the strike. The post Wike’s no-work, no-pay directive unconstitutional, unenforceable – NLC, NUT appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.