The NLC FCT Chairman, Mr Knabayi Adalo, and the NUT FCT Wing Secretary, Mrs Margaret Jethro, condemned the directive in separate circulars issued to members on Sunday, describing it as “unconstitutional, illegal, provocative and unenforceable”.
Wike had on Friday directed area council chairmen to implement the policy against striking workers. He also instructed the FCT Head of Civil Service, school principals and headteachers to open daily attendance registers to monitor workers who failed to report for duty.
He maintained that strike action was a legitimate labour right protected under Nigerian law and international conventions.
“Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, the Trade Unions Act, and ILO Conventions 87, 98 and 151, all ratified by Nigeria, guarantee workers’ right to embark on strike after due process”.
“The NLC FCT has fulfilled all legal conditions,” Adalo stated.
On the threat to withhold salaries, the labour leader argued that Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act, which provides for the no-work, no-pay rule, applied only to illegal strikes.
He further argued that employers could not benefit from their own wrongdoing when their actions created the conditions that led to industrial action.
According to him, the FCT Administration triggered the dispute by allegedly violating teachers’ rights through the introduction of a vacancy clause in their promotion process.
He also cited the demotion of directors who, he said, were entitled to protection under the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022.
Adalo referenced previous judgments of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which he said supported workers’ entitlement to salaries in certain circumstances involving legitimate strikes.
He insisted that salaries could not lawfully be withheld when workers embarked on a legitimate strike arising from an employer’s breach of agreement.
Addressing reports that some school administrators were compelling teachers to sign attendance registers, Adalo directed union members not to sign the registers, describing the move as an attempt to undermine the strike.
“Participation in a union-declared strike is lawful industrial action, not absenteeism.
“Workers facing queries, threats or harassment are instructed to report immediately to the NLC FCT Council Secretariat with evidence,” he said.
He warned that principals and headteachers who forced teachers to sign attendance registers or submitted names for disciplinary action would be held personally responsible and could face union picketing.
The NLC chairman called on the FCT Administration to address the workers’ grievances instead of resorting to intimidation.
He demanded the removal of the vacancy clause, the conduct of the 2025 promotion exercise and the reinstatement of demoted directors.
“We assure all teachers and workers that the NLC will protect your jobs and salaries. No worker will be victimised,” Adalo affirmed.
Similarly, Jethro dismissed the no-work, no-pay directive as illegal and an empty threat, urging teachers not to return to work out of fear.
“We must remain resolute. Do not chicken out; we must fight this battle together and now.
“We urge you not to panic, not to be intimidated and not to sign any attendance register. Shun the threat; the ongoing strike is legal and constitutionally guaranteed.
“Our demands are genuine and not political, as is being insinuated. We are asking for our welfare, not for power,” she said.
The NUT secretary thanked teachers for participating in the strike to protect their welfare, despite what she described as a “betrayal” by the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, ASUSS, which she accused of withdrawing from the industrial action.
“We urge you to remain peaceful and law-abiding while you stay at home,” Jethro added.
The labour unions maintained that the FCT Administration should resolve the outstanding disputes and meet their demands rather than threaten workers with salary sanctions and disciplinary measures.
