Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that the joint National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has suspended the indefinite nationwide strike which the union had embarked on Tuesday.
The decision was reached at a meeting on Wednesday night that took a critical look at the outcome of an earlier interface with the Federal Government led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
The TUC President, Festus Osifo, confirmed the suspension to reporters on Thursday morning.
Organised labour said it has received a commitment from the Ribadu-led meeting that those arrested for the physical assault on NLC President, Joe Ajaero, would be prosecuted.
The NSA promised to bring both parties back to the table to iron out all issues in dispute, tendering an unreserved apology on behalf of the Federal Government for the brutalisation Ajaero and other members of the congress.
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The meeting which was held at the office of the NLSA with the TUC President, Festus Osifo; the NLC General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja; the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, among others, in attendance.
At the end of the meeting which was held behind closed doors, both the labour minister and the TUC President said they had a robust conversation on the issues at stake.
The strike came on the heels of the physical assault Ajaero was subjected to in Imo State two weeks ago when he and other NLC members were in the South-East state for a demonstration over “non-payment of salaries and pensions for 44 months and violation of other labour rights”.
The protest was viewed in some circles as an attempt to scuttle the re-election bid of Governor Hope Uzodimma in last Saturday’s governorship election.
Following Ajaero’s ordeal, the organised labour called for a nationwide strike beginning today.
However, the National Industrial Court (NIC) restrained them from embarking on the strike action in the wake of the impasse with the Imo State Government.