THE striking members of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN, yesterday staged a walk-out at the meeting convened by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige over the ongoing industrial action by the unions.
The meeting was scheduled for 3pm at the Conference Hall of the Minister’s office, Abuja, but the two unions after waiting for about two hours without being attended to stormed out of the venue.
But the Minister has explained that the meeting with JUSUN and PASAN was postponed to enable the Federal Government negotiating team harmonize all issues from the Memorandum of Understanding reached at separate meetings with tiers and arms of government.
Ngige in a statement issued by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Charles Akpan said the postponement was necessary to ensure that the meeting with the unions come with a Memorandum of Action which is implementable with time lines.
The statement said: “There is no point rushing to do a meeting that will be fruitless. The Judiciary, the Governors Forum and even the Presidency are involved in this negotiation because the meeting held yesterday was at the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President .
“The arising documents are not yet properly harmonized. It will therefore not be fruitful to hold a negotiation where people speak from irreconcilable positions. It won’t help us and it won’t help the unions either.
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