By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA — THREE registered public service unions have publicly disowned a press release issued in the name of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) on 30 October 2026, declaring that no one can speak for workers without their mandate.
In a joint statement issued on 1 November 2026 and signed by Comrades Kayode Alakija, President of the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC); John Alli, President of the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI); and Dr. Kamal Ibrahim, President of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), the unions said they were neither consulted nor invited to any meeting where the issues in the JNPSNC statement were discussed.
The unions said: “The statement is therefore unauthorized and cannot be passed off as the collective position of public service trade unions.
We did not participate in its preparation, endorse its contents or authorize anyone to speak on our behalf.”
The three unions also said the Vice Chairman of the JNPSNC, representing the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), was not consulted.
“ASCSN, a constituent member of the Council and a registered union representing over 300,000 public servants, was equally sidelined,” the statement said.
“If the Council’s own Vice Chairman and a major constituent union could be ignored, the credibility of the process is seriously compromised,” the unions added.
While expressing their rejection of the N70,000 intervention, SSASCGOC, SSAUTHRIAI and NUAHP aligned themselves with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), describing it as grossly inadequate amid rising living costs.
According to the unions: “Nigerian workers deserve justice, not token gestures. Their labour must be matched with dignified and adequate remuneration.”
They argued that the intervention was no substitute for decent wages, fair remuneration or sustainable improvement in workers’ living standards.
The three unions also raised concerns over the consequential adjustment from the previous minimum wage implementation, saying workers were shortchanged.
They said: “Rather than applying the 133% adjustment to the lowest-paid worker and cascading it appropriately across the salary structure, the JNPSNC negotiated a flat N40,000 addition across the board.
“This approach undermined salary differentials and disadvantaged workers.”
The unions demanded transparency and a review of that adjustment, insisting that workers must not continue to bear the consequences of inadequate bargaining outcomes.
The aggrieved unions warned that the JNPSNC is a public service negotiating platform and not a third national labour centre alongside the TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
“It must not usurp the representative responsibilities of the recognized labour centres, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress, or undermine the independence of duly registered trade unions.
“Any attempt to do so will be resisted,” the unions warned.
They demanded formal acknowledgement of their disassociation from the unauthorized JNPSNC press release of 30 October 2026, an end to presenting the statement as the collective position of all public service trade unions and
respect for the TUC’s rejection of the inadequate N70,000 transport intervention and a demand for salary increment.
The also demanded for recognition and representation of their unions in relevant public service negotiating structures, an end to issuing statements or taking decisions in the name of unions without consultation and express authorization.
They called for respect for the independence and representative rights of all registered trade unions.
The three unions said trade union unity cannot be imposed through exclusion, procedural manipulation or the silencing of constituent unions.
They said: “You cannot speak for workers without their mandate. You cannot claim consensus without consultation. You cannot negotiate workers’ welfare while denying their unions the right to representation.”
They called on the Federal Government and relevant negotiating authorities to address the exclusion and ensure that all negotiating structures operate strictly within their established mandates.
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