Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) yesterday blamed the ongoing strike in the food and beverage sector on the employers under the aegis of Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE).

The strike which is in its second day has grounded activities in the food and beverage sector.

Workers in the sectors under the aegis of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) began an industrial action on Monday following inability to reach a collective bargaining agreement with AFBTE to review upward their salaries and other fringe benefits.

General Secretary of FOBTOB, Solomon Iji, said on Tuesday that the strike had achieved 100% success rate, adding that a “meeting was held on Friday 8th December 2017 with AFBTE in an effort to reconcile our interest after several disagreements.

”Discussions broke down once again as the AFBTE maintained the position that it is satisfied with the current status-quo and would be willing to continue discussion early in 2018, except FOBTOB will accept its offer of 14% as opposed to our 20% demand which according to our industry records is the lowest rate in the past 17 years,” Iji explained.

Meanwhile the President of the Trade Union of Nigeria (TUC), Bobboi Kaigama and the Secretary of TUC, Musa Lawal, have respectively decried the perceived actions of AFBTE employers to deny a reasonable increment of 20% in its negotiations with FOBTOB members at the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC).