For the last three decades, virtually all general strikes called by the NLC and its affiliates have lasted exactly two days. The first day is always massive. Electricity and water supply would be cut, airports and hospitals barricaded, offices closed and life would grind to a standstill. During the night of the first day, there will be a long meeting between the unions and the government. Government will not meet the key demands of the unions.
Nonetheless, something will happen in or around the meeting and the unions will accept to convene their National Executive Committee (NEC) the following day. The NEC would then accept to temporarily call off the strike after accepting the meagre offer on the table while claiming offer demands would be eventually met. Workers who had been mobilised, riled up and emotionally charged would be demobilised, downcast and disappointed with their radical leaders who suddenly turned coat and became docile and “reasonable”. That’s the end of the story until the next general strike.
Earlier, the story used to be completely different. The classic general strike in Nigerian history was the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) struggle of 1945 at the end of the Second World War when workers said they were unable to live on their salaries. During the war, which the colony had participated in, Nigeria saw high inflation and price increases coupled with stagnant wage growth. Additionally, in contributing to the war effort, many Nigerians felt overworked. Efforts by the government to control prices had proved generally ineffective. It was in this context that a coalition of workers known as the Joint Executive of Government Technical Workers had demanded an increased minimum wage on March 22, 1945. In response, the workers issued a statement that should the government not grant their demands by “Thursday, June 21, 1945, the workers of Nigeria shall proceed to seek their own remedy with due regard to law and order on the one hand and starvation on the other.” A meeting between the government and labour leaders on May 30, did not resolve issues. In an effort to calm the workers, on June 2, the government released Michael Imoudu, a prominent labour leader who had been in prison since 1943, and the following week approved a small increase in the minimum wage – which the strikers rejected. Instead of placating the workers, Imoudu’s release encouraged them and he became a leader of the strike. The general strike lasted 45 days in Lagos and 53 days in the regions until the worker’s key demands were met.
I encountered the two-day rule during the anti-fuel increase general strike of 2012. It would be recalled that on New Year Day 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan broke his bond on creating conditions for Nigerians to enjoy a breath of fresh air by increasing the pump price of petrol (PMS). By this act, Nigerians were guaranteed to suffer extremely high costs for transport, food and other essentials, thereby deepening poverty. It’s an old story repeated again and again. 2012 was the 18th time that the prices of petroleum products had been increased in 26 years, starting from a raise in the pump price of petrol from 3.15 kobo per litre to 20 kobo per litre in April, 1985. We in civil society decided to start a protest movement but it was very weak because of our low convening power. We, therefore, worked with the NLC to organise a general strike which was massive. We attended the planning and negotiating meetings within the movement and with the government. We learnt later that there was a late-night meeting with the government to which we were not invited. When we met the NLC leadership after their meeting, the body language and attitude had changed completely. They started explaining to us that our strike on day one was so successful that it was posing a security challenge to the country and we should calm things down. We were told we must drop our key demand that the strike would not end until the government provides evidence of revamping the refineries, which they had promised many times in the past to do but did not. There was a slight reduction to the announced fuel hike and the story ended. We wondered what convincing arguments the government gave to change their attitude. We are still searching.
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The current NLC’s struggle for a new minimum wage in the context of a severe cost of living crisis was very effectively conducted. They effectively changed the concept from minimum wage to living wage and showed that there is no way a worker on minimum wage can take care of their family needs. They pointed out that the minimum wage of 1981 which was N126 was the equivalent of $195 and could maintain a family. Currently, the minimum wage of N30,000 is worth less than $20 monthly and cannot sustain a family. They made a case that if the government can afford to pay senators a monthly wage of N29,479,749 (including 15 allowances), they could afford to meet the workers’ demand of less than N500,000. The same week, the government multiplied the salaries of judges by 300 per cent. If the same formula were applied to the N30,000 current monthly rate, the minimum wage would exceed their demands by far.
Then evening came and the meeting took place and something happened once again and NLC/TUC was happy with “slightly over 60,000” so that there would be peace and tranquility in the land. If only someone could explain to me the contours of the secret convincing evening argument used, my education would be enhanced as we await the next general strike.
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