THE Federal Government has warned members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) that their planned five-day warning strike is illegal.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, issued the warning yesterday shortly after receiving a letter from the NARD leadership informing him of the upcoming strike, which is set to begin at midnight.
According to Olajide Oshundun, the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, the letter dated May 16, 2023, was brought to his office about 5 p.m. on the same day.
Following receipt of the letter, Ngige phoned the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who informed him that his office had organized a meeting with the resident doctors for today May 17.
The labour minister adviced the doctors to use the chance for social conversation with their employer rather than go on a warning strike, stating that it was illegal under the law.
“I will advise them to attend the meeting with the Minister of Health tomorrow,” he was quoted as saying. “I will also advise them very strongly not to go on a five-day warning strike. There is nothing like a warning strike. A strike is a strike.”
Ngige cautioned that if they wanted to take the risk, the options were there.
“It is their decision. They have the right to strike. You cannot deny them that right. But their employer has another right under Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, to withhold their pay for those five days,” he said.
“So, if the NARD has strike funds to pay their members for those five days, no problem. The Health Minister will instruct the teaching hospitals to employ ad hoc people for those five days and they will use the money of the people who went on strike to pay the ad hoc doctors.”
He cited the International Labour Organization (ILO) principles at decent work, especially for those rendering essential services, adding that lives should be protected.
“One of my sons is a resident doctor, I will advise him to go to work and sign the attendance register. The people seen at work are the ones to receive their pay. If you don’t work, their will be no pay,” he said.
Concerning prompt payment of the MRTF to union members, he stated that it was budgeted in the 2023 budget but had not been released because the 2022 budget was still in effect, adding that those in 2022 had all been paid.
Furthermore, Ngige refuted NARD’s claim that the Federal Government did not pay minimum wage consequential adjustment arrears to their members, stating that the adjustment benefited all workers in the education and health sectors, as well as the defense agencies.
He added that the doctors could not announce a nationwide strike since certain states owed their members, and that the Federal Government could not intervene in the case because it was a state concern.
Similarly, the labor minister argued that the Federal Government, as the executive branch of government, could not intervene in the National Assembly bill to bind doctors for five years because it was introduced by a private member.
Any participation by the administration in the case, he states, violates the legislative branch’s sovereignty and independence.
Despite the fact that the bill had passed first and second readings, Ngige is certain that it would be rejected in the public hearing because the law prohibits forced labor.
He encouraged the doctors not to discuss a compensation increase of 200 percent since it was not practical.
According to Ngige, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) was already negotiating a pay increase for doctors with the Federal Ministry of Health, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, and the Presidential Committee on Salaries, in addition to everything the government had done for doctors and other workers in the health sector, such as an upward review of hazard allowances.
“It is incongruous for student doctors to embark on strike when consultants training them were already negotiating with the Federal Government,” he said.
