Labour and trade union leaders detained

Breaking News Report: President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwaheed Omar and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Peter Esele, as well as other officials of both Unions have been detained by police officers in Enugu State.

The Union had planned to hold a protest march over the non-implementation of the new mininum wage by the Enugu state government.

One of the detained labour leaders said armed police officers and soldiers stormed the hotel room where the labour leaders were lodged on Thursday, morning, 8 September. They were held at gunpoint, the labour leader said, and ordered not to leave the hotel.

Both Mr. Omar and his TUC counterpart, Mr. Esele had been on their way to Workers' Square, Enugu State secretariat complex, the site of the protest march, when the armed security men struck, putting them on lock down.

The labour and trade union leaders were expected to lead the protest rally, after the state government failed to heed to the two-week ultimatum issued by the labour union, demanding that the new minimum wage of N18,000 be implemented in the state.

According to reports, this post-ultimatum march was meant to be the "mother of all strikes." The reports also cited a statement from the rally organisers which read: "The rallies, which are the mothers of all rallies, will be attended by civil servants, teachers, bank workers, local government workers, traders, civil society organisation, progressive intelligentsia, academic and non-academic workers and indeed all Nigerians."

Prior to the ultimatum, workers in the southeastern state are fresh off a three-day warning strike which has spiraled into full-on strike when the government showed no willingness to meet their demands.

The NLC intervened, persuading the workers to suspend their strike and put the two-week ultimatum into effect.

The state government made some concessions, offering to add an extra N10,000 to the salaries of workers in grade levels one through six, and an additional N5,000 to those in grade levels seven through 16. Their offer was rejected.

Furthermore, the state commissioner for information, Mr. Chucks Ugwuoke, also confirmed that the government implemented the new wage, but not in all cases. Labour leaders, however, are pressing for the new wage regime to apply across the board while the government maintains that they don't have the funds to do that.

With that grace period over and neither side willing to compromise, the workers are back to striking, shutting the gates to government agencies and schools. NLC Chairman in the state, Mr. Ike Abugu told papers that the strike would commence since negotiations with the state government has reached a stalemate.

Democrazy in action!