As strikes take the back seat for elections

They are strikes—by any other name, industrial or labour disputes. The latest two were suspended this February, leaving in their wake a country still unsure how to move on and what success, if any, there is.When Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) suspended last week a strike it started last November, it called for congratulations. It […]

They are strikes—by any other name, industrial or labour disputes. The latest two were suspended this February, leaving in their wake a country still unsure how to move on and what success, if any, there is.
When Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) suspended last week a strike it started last November, it called for congratulations.
It had taken weeks of hospitals left to only doctors. It had taken accusations by doctors that the unions disrupted whatever skeletal services there were in hospitals. It had also taken at least five meetings with government.
But the response was measured. A union official simply responded, “Congratulations, for now.”
It would depend on whatever comes next. For weeks, JOHESU met with labour and health ministries’ officials, set up minimum endpoints it would accept on its demands, and did everything to ensure government implemented agreements and rulings by the National Industrial Court in its favour.
They cover everything from reviewing retirement age to implementing a job evaluation report from 2008 and promoting health professionals from CONHESS 14 to 15. They form the root of a much deeper industrial disharmony in the health sector—and the topic of at least five meetings in hopes of resolving the strike from November.
There was understanding issuing the required circulars to put the decisions into action required approval from the presidency, but the meeting agreements were never presented to the President for five weeks, union officials said.
But President Goodluck Jonathan did intervene, breaking the strike last week after assuring the unions he will consider their demands.
JOHESU wouldn’t say exactly what promises it secured from the presidency and a timeline for its implementation, but it expects it can check up on how well the demands are implemented after elections.
Analysts worry holding onto promises will be dicey. For one, with elections over, priorities could shift, and the push and pull between government and its workers could come full circle once more. JOHESU’s squabbles with government go back more than 20 years, as do grievances in sectors other than health.
Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Law Officers Association of Nigeria (LOAN) spectacularly held their ground lately on the strength of strikes.
Lawyers in the ministry of justice pushed for enhanced welfare packages. They’d been in talks with the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Head of Service. The talks were welcome, said LOAN chairman Yusuf Abdulkadir in Abuja, “but they turned out to be promises and did not translate into concrete agreements or approval of all or any of our demands.”
Law officers argue the justice ministry is among—if not the—lowest paid ministry but they listed also among their grievances outstanding robe allowances, arrears from promotions, allowances for purchase of books, law reports, hazard allowances, court appearance and car loans. They are lawyers who work with the justice ministry, including public prosecutors in states.
Judiciary staff are the nuts and bolts of the judiciary—and they took a different approach: implementation of a long-decided complete autonomy of judiciary from the executive and legislative arms of government.
By that token, allocations would be split three ways—not necessarily equal—and each arm welcome to theirs. No more the executive holding the purse strings and deciding which court building to renovate. The judiciary, under the auspices of the National Judicial Council, could well handle its finances.
The right to strike is what separates workers from slaves, said JOHESU chairman Ayuba Wabba minutes after he announced his union had suspended its strike.
Finance and promise underpin every strike; agreement is achieved, the familiar further push for concrete evidence of implementation usually comes later, as it did with Nigerian Medical Association at the height of Ebola virus disease outbreak last year.
With budget closed for 2015, no new financial implication can make it onto the books—and will have to wait till next fiscal year, risking fresh demands for cashbacking.
That will also come under the shadow of falling prices for crude oil, which the bulk of Nigeria’s economy depends on.
“It is difficult to be sure what the strikes have achieved,” says an informed legal sector analyst. “The executive [arm of government] has been sensitized” about standing agreements and understandings about law officers and the wish of the judiciary to get out of the pocket of the executive and escape from under the hammer of the legislature.
“All that has now become public knowledge. That’s all it’s achieved,” he says. That and stalled court appearances, halted legal proceedings, shut courtrooms.
At least, until the next round of strikes.