Alternative Labour centre, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), has threatened to “down tools” over the recent increase in phone tariffs.
Already the foremost National Labour Congress (NLC) has declared opposition to the 60 percent tariff hike approved by government by government and entered into negotiations on the matter.
Pointing out that citizens are already “feeding from hand to mouth,” Festus Osifo, the President of TUC, spoke when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, and could not afford more expensive cost of communicating.
He blamed the hike on mismanagement of foreign exchange, which he believes the government can handle easily.
According to him, the TUC was not begrudging the telcos of the development, knowing very well that the socio-economic landscape they operate in has changed dramatically, but insisted that the government has the responsibility to ensure that the economic outlook of the country is stable for businesses to thrive.
Osifo said: “Government has the tools and wherewithal to be able to manage the landscape to ensure that the cost of doing business goes down. And one of the ways is that exchange rate because that is the root cause of the problem.
“The NAC of TUC, which is like the National Working Committee, has met today. After that, we’ll have the Central Working Committee meeting, and we also have the NEC.
“So at the NEC, we’ll take the final decision. So the NAC was the one that met today.
“All we are saying is that if you allow your currency to slide, it will affect all of us.
“We are completely apolitical. For one, I don’t belong to any political party; I’ve said that severally, so we look for what is in the best interest of the Nigerian workers and Nigerians in general.
“We started shouting about this early last year; if our exchange rate is better managed, at the end you are going to see that there is no need for that increment.”
Asked if the TUC is proceeding with an industrial action, he said, “Absolutely,” adding that they will “down tools and go to the streets.”
He said the NEC of TUC has the responsibility to give a date for the strike.
