PARESSA also condemned the attack on the NLC president, Joe Ajaero by the police reportedly on the orders of Governor Hope Uzodimma.
The Precision Electrical Related and Equipment Senior Staff Association (PERESSA) has expressed support for the plan by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to embark on strike on November 14, 2023, if their demands are not met.
PARESSA also condemned the attack on the NLC president, Joe Ajaero by the police reportedly on the orders of Governor Hope Uzodimma.
It described the attack as “barbaric”.
In a statement signed by its National President, Comrade Rufus Olusesan and General Secretary, Comrade Dele Ojo, the group declared support for the “strike action scheduled to commence on 14th November, 2023”.
It said, “The recent abduction and brutalisation of the NLC president by the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma and the Nigeria Police in Owerri, Imo State, while leading Imo State workers on a strike against the flagrant violation of their rights by the state government are not just appalling but also totally condemnable.
“It is important to note that the strike which Joe Ajaero was leading before he was brutally attacked was a response to the unleashing of a number of anti-worker policies by the Hope Uzodimma-led Imo State government. One of such policies is the tagging of over 11,000 workers as ghost workers, with their salaries being unpaid over the past 20 months.”
It described the attack on Ajaero as an attack on all workers in Nigeria and the democratic rights of the working people across the country.
It said, “It is difficult to imagine that this dastardly act that left the NLC president with serious injuries (and a swollen face) by supposed police officers; armed thugs could not have perpetrated a more dastardly act.
“This attack further exposes the fascistic tendencies of the capitalist politicians who occupy the seats of government in Nigeria today. It evidences the regression of the Nigerian state into a deeper despotic level.
“Previous experience shows that the government is not likely to yield to the demands contained in the October 3 joint press statement by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
“The response of the labour movement to this brutal attack should be an all-out nationwide protest to demonstrate that the working people of Nigeria will not sit idly and watch passively while the democratic rights of workers are been brazenly attacked.
“Labour leaders should begin nationwide mobilisation in response to attacks on democratic rights, rising cost of living, poor wages, etc., through mass meetings and sensitization, press mobilisations, rallies and culminating the general strikes scheduled to take off from Tuesday, 14th November,2023.
“This event also evidences the need for the labour movement to be more radical in its resolve to defend the rights of the working people of the country. The labour centres in Nigeria must continue to reassert their historical legacy of radical unionism as the largest labour movement in West Africa.
“The era of calling off strike actions mid-night before the said dates based on hurriedly prepared agreements and promises which are simply meant to dissuade workers from striking should end now.
“The only way to stop the continued attacks on the rights of workers by the capitalist government at both federal, state and private sector levels in Nigeria is for the labour movement to become more organised in its method and more radical in its resolve.”