By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Workers under the aegis of the Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have vowed to stay away from work until their demands are met.
The union’s stance comes despite an order from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), sitting in Abuja, for the workers under the FCTA to suspend their ongoing strike.
A video circulating on social media shows a group of protesting workers demanding that the FCTA grant their demands or they will continue with the strike.
The workers were seen demanding that the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, must go, adding that other unions, including Area Councils and the National Union of Teachers (NUT), are standing in solidarity with the union.
In the video, Chairman of the JUAC, Mrs Rifkatu Iortyer, said the workers are no longer on strike, but will continue to be in their houses pending the granting of their demands.
She said, “We are no more on strike, but we are in our houses. Let them open the gate wide, we dey our houses. No wahala. We are no more on strike, tell them. Wike has won, but let them open all the gates, we are going back to relax and be praying. When they meet our demands, we will come.
“We will not struggle with them because the life of every staff matters to us. The life of every FCT staff counts. Nobody will struggle with them; they have the gun, they have the power, they have the resources, but the people’s power is more than their own.
Earlier on Tuesday, January 27, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria granted an interlocutory injunction following a suit filed by Nyesom Wike and the FCT Administration against the JUAC.
Wike and the FCTA dragged the Chairman of the JUAC, Mrs Rifkatu Iortyer, and its Secretary, Mr Abdullahi Umar Saleh, before the court, seeking an order restraining the defendants and their agents from embarking on industrial action, picketing, or lockout.
Delivering his ruling on Tuesday, Justice E.D. Subilim held that although the dispute before the court qualified as a trade dispute and had met the necessary legal requirements, the right of workers to embark on strike action was not absolute.
The judge ruled that once a trade dispute had been referred to the National Industrial Court, workers were prohibited from continuing with any strike action.
He added that where such an action was already ongoing, it must cease pending the determination of the case.
