FG Begins Process Of Enforcing ‘No Work No Pay’ Rule

- The federal government has started the process of enforcing the ‘no work, no pay’ rule in order to prevent further mass actions by workers in the country - Once the law is enforced, any worker who goes on strike would not receive salary for that period of time; nor will their actions be pensionable - Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment disclosed that the move became necessary due to the spate of industrial crisis witnessed in the last two months - The government has also moved to tackle the issue of presidents of unions who have retained their positons for a very long time The Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has begun the process of enforcing the ‘no work, no pay’ rule said to be captured in the Trade Disputes of the Federation, Punch reports. The development was made public by Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, in a chat with State House correspondents, at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting Ngige stated that the measure had become necessary due to the increased number of mass actions in the country in recent times.
Once the law is enforced, any worker who goes on strike would not receive salary for that period of time. The period of the industrial action would also not be pensionable. The minister stated: “First and foremost, the report emphasised the need to implement the law on ‘no work, no pay.’ “The ‘no work, no pay’ is not a rule, neither is it a policy. It is a law captured on Trade Disputes Act of Federation. “Section 43 to be precise says that workers have a right to disengage from an employer if there is a break down in discussions or negotiation. But for the period that the worker does so, the employer should not pay and those periods are to be counted as non-pensionable times in the period of work. “So council today re-emphasised that that law is still in force and that it should be brought to the knowledge of workers in the public and private sector; especially those in the public sector. “We have to do that because of the spate of industrial crisis we have suffered in the last two months, when we had plethora of strikes all over the place. “So, council has said this should be reemphasised to workers so that they will know. “Meanwhile for the strike embarked upon the last time, we will see what we can do about that because there is a law in place.”
Speaking about presidents of unions who have retained their positons for a very long time, Ngige stated further: “It was agreed that my ministry should continue with our work in terms of fishing out the unions that don’t have constitutions that prescribe time limit for their elected officers. 
Meanwhile the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) explained that all its state branches where salary liabilities of up to three months exist, will enforce ‘no pay, no work’ policy. The Union’s national president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, revealed this when he featured on a programme in Abuja, FCT. He stated: “We have given instructions to all of our state councils that where there is liability of salary up to three months, they should also apply the rule of 'no pay, no work’; it is not only ‘no work, no pay.’”