NLC, NUT Call Wike's No-Work, No-Pay Order Unconstitutional

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) have rejected the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike's threat to apply the no-work, no-pay policy to workers taking part in the ongoing strike.

 

The positions were set out in separate circulars issued to members on Sunday by Mr Knabayi Adalo, Chairman of the NLC FCT Council, and Mrs Margaret Jethro, Secretary of the NUT FCT Wing.

 

On Friday, Wike directed the chairmen of the area councils to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy against workers participating in the indefinite strike, which the NLC declared on Oct. 7 over unresolved issues between the FCT Administration (FCTA) and the NUT.

 

According to report, the minister also directed the FCT Head of Civil Service, principals and headteachers to open daily attendance registers to track absent workers.

 

In his circular, Adalo urged affected workers and teachers to stand firm and to disregard threats of salary stoppage or attendance monitoring.

 

He told workers across the territory that strike action was 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 said.

 

On the threat to withhold salaries, the union leader argued that the no-work, no-pay rule under Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act applied only to illegal strikes.

 

He also argued that an employer could not benefit from its own wrongdoing where it had created the conditions that led to industrial action.

 

According to Adalo, the FCTA 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 earlier judgments of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), which he said supported workers' entitlement to salaries in certain circumstances involving legitimate strikes.

 

In the union's view, he said, salaries could not lawfully be withheld from workers taking part in a legitimate strike triggered by an employer's breach of agreement.

 

Responding to reports that some school heads were compelling teachers to sign attendance registers, Adalo directed union members not to sign them.

 

He argued that registers opened during a strike had no legal value and served only as a trap to divide workers.

 

"Participation in a union-declared strike is lawful industrial action, not absenteeism.

 

"Workers facing queries, threats or harassment are instructed to report immediately to the NLC FCT Council Secretariat with evidence," he said.

 

Adalo warned that any principal or headteacher who forced teachers to sign attendance registers, or submitted names for punitive action, would be held personally responsible and targeted for picketing by the union.

 

He said the FCTA should address the workers' core grievances instead of resorting to intimidation.

 

The union, he said, was demanding the immediate removal of the vacancy clause, the conduct of the 2025 promotion exercise and the full reinstatement of the demoted directors.

 

"We assure all teachers and workers that the NLC will protect your jobs and salaries. No worker will be victimised," Adalo said.

 

In the NUT circular, Jethro described the no-work, no-pay directive as illegal and an empty threat, and urged teachers not to return to work out of fear.

 

"We must remain resolute. Do not chicken out; we must fight this battle together and now.

 

"We urge you not to panic, not to be intimidated and not to sign any attendance register. Shun the threat; the ongoing strike is legal and constitutionally guaranteed.

 

"Our demands are genuine and not political, as is being insinuated. We are asking for our welfare, not for power," she said.

 

Jethro thanked teachers for complying with the strike in the interest of their welfare, despite what she described as a "betrayal" by the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), which she accused of withdrawing from the action.

 

"We urge you to remain peaceful and law-abiding while you stay at home," she said.

 

NAN's report did not carry a response from the FCT Administration to the unions' circulars, or from ASUSS to the NUT's accusation.