Strike: OPS vows to sanction workers

The Organised Private Sector (OPS) under the aegis of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) said that any employee who failed to report to duty during the strike would be sanctioned. A statement signed by the Director General of NECA, Mr Olusegun Oshinowo, on Thursday in Lagos said that the “no work, no pay’’ law would also be applied.

A faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had called for a nationwide strike which began on Wednesday after its meeting with the Federal Government ended in a deadlock.

The NLC had rejected the increment in the price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 per litre by the Federal Government, and called for an upward review of minimum wage among other issues.

According to the statement, it is in the interest of both the employer and workers to ensure that the business survives since their wages are not dependent on government’s allocation. It said that any person or groups that involved in the strike would endanger his or her job and income.

“Beyond applying the law of `no work, no pay,’ employers will take exception to any employee that had failed to report for work as from Wednesday,’’ the statement said.

The employers, in the statement, appealed to the government and heads of security agencies to ensure that adequate security was provided for workers to go to their different places of work.  It said that the deregulation policy was a crucial step in the resolution of the perennial dependence of Nigeria on imported petroleum products.

The statement reiterated employers’ support for the government for embracing a policy that would start significant reform in the downstream sector.