I feel glad and indeed thankful to the Almighty God that this is yet another May Day celebration for the Nigerians workers. Today is remarkable in many fronts: it affords us an opportunity to x-ray the collective lives of Nigerian workers, the polity and governance of the country. It is also an opportunity to discuss our pains, agonies and opportunities lost during this economic crisis that has greatly impacted negatively on trade union practice and management in terms of membership strength, finance, organizational efficiency, collective bargaining agreements, etc.

As you are all aware, May Day is not a day for political party rally, yet the field is full of layers of golden eggs for the nation’s wealth. In fact, am relieved that despite our predicament you all turned out in great number to mark this day like your counterparts in other parts of the world. You have truly shown patriotism, courage and selflessness by this act of yours.

You will recall that May Day celebration started a long time ago when Chicago police massacred workers and revolutionaries for fighting for an eight-hour workday. That was in 1886. Back then, workers did ten, to twelve-hour shifts.  It is sad to note that the ills that necessitated the massacres still persist in factories and work environments, here in Nigeria.

The theme of this year’s May Day celebration, “Labour Relations in Economic Recession: An Appraisal,” is apt taking into cognizance the prevailing realities in our socio-economic life.

The on-going economic recession has worsened workers challenges in terms of purchasing power and non review of minimum wage. Job losses are increasing in a geometric manner and factories are closing shops. Anti-labour activities, massive corruption among the elites, dearth of forex scarcity, oil price crash are all man-made problems. For the umpteenth time, we reiterate that we need a paradigm shift if we must count among the comity of nations.

Your Excellencies, our faith and hope wane by the demoralizing crises in the political parties.

Even the National Assembly where the two major parties constitute the majority have also not known peace since inception. They have failed to do their statutory responsibility which is to churn out developmental and transformational laws. All they talk about are: uniform, fake certificate, insincerity in the declaration of assets, stolen monies in market, soakaway, dilapidated houses, septic tanks, airports, burial grounds, and the failure of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to tell Nigerians the total amount of money so far recovered.

It is quite difficult to really say this is where we have got it right as a country since we gained independence. There is so much impunity in our land and it is our expectation that this celebration would spur our leaders to action. If we are expecting foreigners to fix our country for us we are joking. It is we who will do it; and to do that we must address the following issues;

Your Excellencies and comrades, this administration has made appreciable effort in the fight against insecurity, corruption, rebuilding of national image. We also applaud the release of bailout funds to state governments to pay salaries, although over 19 states still owe.  This administration promised to right all wrongs of the past but we are surprised that two years down the line, it has not really justified its existence in terms of fixing the economy, creation of jobs, revival of ailing industries and infrastructure. We are really worried because the change tilts more to the negative than positive, making our initial sigh of relief look like a joke.

Your Excellencies, between February and March this year suicide cases were rife. This is unprecedented in the country.  We appreciate the fact that there could be underlying factors but we must not also play down the aspect of frustration, depression, hunger, etc. The idea of suicide is alien to us. It was in films we saw such things. We were jolly-good fellows until the political elites started their politics of bitterness. Our thinking was that having the ruling party at the centre and more in the National Assembly and states as governors, development would be fast but we seem to be wrong.

Your Excellencies, we do not know of any country in the world that pays its political office holders like it is done in Nigeria. The pecks of office are inconceivable which is why politicians can do anything to remove any perceived enemy off their way. The Federal Legislature has the most opaque budget in the country even during this recession. In fact, the success of the present government will be predicated on its ability to bring public expenditure down and under greater control.

Few weeks ago the federal government released the second tranche of Paris-London fund to governors to pay salaries and develop their states. Regrettably one is not sure whether what happened to the first will not happen to the second. The governors will tell the world they have created jobs when all they have done is to increase the number of aides and Special Assistants. This is not same as job creation. From investigations we have discovered that the so-called aides are the conduit pipes through which the governors milk their states. Luckily for us, some of these who felt they were not well “settled” have become whistle-blowers.

We like to warn that soon the organized labour and its civil society allies will mobilize members nationwide against politicians who constitute nuisance and a clog in the wheel of progress of this country.

Comrades, our economy is almost prostrate.  Corruption is hitting us real bad and fighting back; there is paucity of infrastructure, refusal or failure of government to diversify the economy, insecurity, Niger Delta crisis (though there is relative peace now), weak naira, depletion of external reserve, among others. Is it not painful that even the NNPC does not know how many barrels of crude is produced daily?  Our economy is sick so our priorities must be right.  If we miss it now we may never get it right again.

Your Excellencies and comrades, the world knows we have both human and material resources to engender development. What is missing? Over the years we have had leaders who squandered every chance of coming out of the grip of poverty. We have arable land, population and natural resources but our political leaders prefer to go cap-in-hand to Abuja for monthly allocation.  What has happened to agriculture and other entrepreneurial activities? This is why people are clamouring that any state that relies on federal allocation only should be scrapped. And we are tempted to agree with them. A state should be able to meet its obligations in terms of welfare and provision of infrastructure.

I personally feel irked each time politicians and employers recommend downsizing, redundancy and slash in wage as the only way to sustain their business instead of cutting down on their ostentatious and flamboyant lifestyle. Most times they even recommend privatization of public establishment which they eventually sell to cronies. They are not bothered that today is the first of May and yet 2017 National Budget has not been passed.

All the errors and leakages we condemned in previous budgets are still rearing their ugly heads. Things are bad, yes, we know, but we didn’t know it will get to the point of people abandoning huge sum of money at airports, foreign banks, toilets, bathrooms, soakaways, etc. To address these issues all patriotic Nigerians must work to restore the glory of Nigeria.

For emphasis, comrades, I will like to shed light on some of the challenges militating against the manufacturing sector. First is the issue of power. From the fillers I have received from our affiliates there is no company that currently spends less than half a billion naira to power their plants in a month. Diesel now sells for between N250 and N300 per litre depending on where you are buying from. Those that could not sustain their businesses have left the shores of the country but their products still flood our markets. Who is losing?

The food and beverage sector had in its employ millions of workers until recently when the issue of violation of collective agreement and redundancy arising from forex problems, etc became the order of the day. Employers of labour have become politicians and hardly adhere to agreements. They take advantage of workers at every slight opportunity, like this one provided by recession. It is our thinking that the fact that there is a little drop in profit margin is not a criterion to lay off committed workers. Between July 2015 and now the senior staff of food and beverage union has lost thousands of workers to an already over-saturated labour market.

At its peak, the textile sector provided direct jobs to close to half a million of Nigerians and millions of indirect jobs. Sadly, over 90% core investors have since gone into importation.

We will be glad if government can do for the industry what it has done in the power sector by making solid arrangement to sell gas to this industry at the same rate it is selling to the DISCOS; since they both require this commodity for production.

The Footwear and Leather industry is combating with the challenges of influx of fake tyres from China and fairly used ones. The development possesses a great risk to the masses, who are daily on the roads. According to Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), a total of 4,005 deaths in 7,657 crashes was recorded at the end of week 47 of 2016. Fake tyres contribute to it. And we urge government to assist through policies to curb further closure of companies.

The same evil that befell the textile, food and beverage, footwear and leather sectors have since befallen the Pharmaceutical and Chemical, Aviation and iron and Steel sectors, etc.

Reports have it that despite billions of naira so far spent on Aladja, Katsina and Ajaokuta they are yet to fully come on stream. The Pulp and Paper Industries at Jebba, Iwopin and Oku-Iboku have all long been abandoned and forgotten despite several appeals to government. It is not a plus that 21stcentury Nigeria still imports paper even with all the trees all over the country.

Comrades, Nigerians love luxury cars and spend huge foreign exchange to import them. In the past we assembled products all over but now investors in the industry now prefer to import instead of assembling. We are calling  on the Federal Government to fully implement the National Automotive Policy initiative launched in 2016 through the Bank of Industry to assist the middle class  patronize the local assembly plants. Through this initiative a lot of serious Auto Plant will boost their sales and stabilize the market and create jobs even in this recession.

The insurance and banking sector has not had it so good either. Its tales have been that of meltdown and carelessness on the part of management. The management kicks against unionization and makes the workers look like the evil bedeviling the sector. There is the aspect of policy inconsistency on the part of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance, which have stagnated the nation’s economic growth and hindered investment. To turn the nation’s economy around government must as a matter of urgency tackle the issue of forex and crash in the value of naira.  TUC also brings to fore the unnecessary, unreasonable and unreachable targets our financial sector workers are being made to undertake in an economy where the financial sector is contracting by government policy. If justifiable in the past, it is no longer tenable consequent upon introduction of TSA Policy where Government’s, Agencies’ as well as Parastatals’ funds are being ware-housed with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), leaving only private funds for commercial banks to manage. It is therefore impossible to meet set target and in fact it is turning our bankers and other financial workers into victims of money bags. The banking sector should therefore be sanitized to make room for decent financial system.

Distinguished Guests, one of the most contentious issues that we have been battling with over the years is the illegal recruitment of permanent secretaries from outside the core Civil Service. This is now compounded at the Federal level by the illegal extension of the tenure of certain Permanent Secretaries and officers who are supposed to have retired from the Service in line with the Public Service Rules (PSR) and extant Circulars including the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We therefore call for the reversals of all appointments of permanent secretaries made outside of the core Civil Service while all illegal extension of tenure of any permanent secretaries should be revoked immediately.

Fellow Comrades, it is rather pathetic that I have to raise this point again as it has become a recurring decimal. The issue of unpaid entitlements of workers has remained unattended to for some years now, and was indeed brought to the attention of the Federal Government for necessary action. It should be noted that the debts owed Federal workers include promotion arrears outstanding in some cases since 2007; 1st 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation; and Duty Tour Allowance (DTA). Others are mandatory training allowance in 2010, burial expenses, etc. The Trade Union Congress wants to use this occasion to appeal to the Federal Government for the umpteenth time to pay these arrears and other allowances owed federal public servants immediately in order to boost their morale and by extension increase the level of productivity in the Public Service.

Another needless crisis workers are contending with is the delay in payment of salaries by the Federal Government. As I address you, a good number of MDAs including some Unity Colleges nation-wide are still being owed salaries for some months in 2016/17. We urge President Buhari to direct appropriate Agencies of Government to pay the affected workers their hard earned salaries without any further delay to stave off industrial crisis in the affected MDAs.           .

Since oil was discovered in Nigeria our lot has been that of countless battles, unbridled corruption and incessant hikes in the price of petroleum products. The cabal in the oil and gas industry is so strong that most times they stifle the efforts of every government in power.

They claim to import petroleum products, raise vouchers and collect billions for doing nothing; and when we complain they create artificial scarcity, fix prices and manipulate the lawmakers against the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

We are a mono-economy and the only means of getting foreign exchange is oil. The time to fix our refineries and encourage individuals to set up modular refineries is now. By that we can at least produce what we use. All things being equal, Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s refinery will commence operation next year whereas Nigeria is yet to fix a faulty one. What an absurdity that individuals  and private corporations can have short, medium and long term plans for their businesses but not a country.

On the proposed amendment of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Act by the House of Representatives, we believe it is a misplaced priority and it is not acceptable. Such amendment will impact negatively on the image of Nigeria, as the international community would perceive Nigeria as a country which does not honour its promises as well as one which does not take its call for foreign investments seriously. The proposed amendment can directly affect some $25 billion worth of foreign investments as well as another 18,000 Nigerian jobs linked to NLNG’s Train 7 and 8 expansion programmes.

Since oil was discovered in Nigeria our lot has been that of countless battles, unbridled corruption and incessant hikes in the price of petroleum products. The cabal in the oil and gas industry is so strong that most times they stifle the efforts of every government in power.

They claim to import petroleum products, raise vouchers and collect billions for doing nothing; and when we complain they create artificial scarcity, fix prices and manipulate the lawmakers against the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

We are a mono-economy and the only means of getting foreign exchange is oil. The time to fix our refineries and encourage individuals to set up modular refineries is now. By that we can at least produce what we use. All things being equal, Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s refinery will commence operation next year whereas Nigeria is yet to fix a faulty one. What an absurdity that individuals  and private corporations can have short, medium and long term plans for their businesses but not a country.

On the proposed amendment of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Act by the House of Representatives, we believe it is a misplaced priority and it is not acceptable. Such amendment will impact negatively on the image of Nigeria, as the international community would perceive Nigeria as a country which does not honour its promises as well as one which does not take its call for foreign investments seriously. The proposed amendment can directly affect some $25 billion worth of foreign investments as well as another 18,000 Nigerian jobs linked to NLNG’s Train 7 and 8 expansion programmes.

This will negate the job creation and job security policy being propagated by the current

administration. The National Assembly’s proposed action will also not only affect recent gains made in the area of gas flaring which has reduced from 65% to less than 20%, but lead to the loss of up to $124 million annually payable as taxes and dividends to the Federal Government. NLNG is a made-in-Nigeria company competing globally and has been a huge success so far.

We urged the Government to step up security of lives and oil and gas infrastructures throughout the country. Government should move to put sustainable and systemic machinery in place to curb pipeline vandalism and the attendant crude oil and petroleum products theft.

Government should ensure that the four state-owned refineries work at optimum capacity, while private investors are encouraged into local refining and we look at a way of incorporating, streamlining and regulating operators of illegal refineries as a way of boosting local refining as a way out of the incessant increment of petroleum products prices.

Your Excellencies, we demand an improvement on local content policy of the Government to involve technical, human and material sections of the oil and gas operations in the country, especially in management positions of the Oil and Gas companies but not limited names of the companies. This is to encourage technical knowledge transfer to Nigerians.

Great comrades, our education system has been experiencing usual setback for over three decades now. We tend to forget that the nations playing it big in terms of industrialization have quality education system and skill acquisition centres. It is high time we realized that we cannot compete in the 21st century with an academic curriculum that was drafted over three decades ago. Education drives the future and we must act fast.

To start with, the issue of teachers’ welfare must become a priority. Most often people abandon teaching jobs for more lucrative ones.  The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) is worried that there is a deliberate and conscious effort by the ruling elite to use  education as a weapon to perpetuate inequality so that their children will continue to take advantage of the children of the poor. Just few weeks ago thousands of potential JAMB candidates protested due to inability to register for the examination. And even when they register, sometimes two days to the examination day they will still be looking for their centres. Our system is such that 120 students take lectures in a class that is designed for 40. It happens even in the universities. Chairs are not always enough. While some stand to receive lecture others sit on the windows and floor.

There is the issue of emergency private school operators and other institutions. This is worst in the states as many of them are now involved in unnecessary competition. They establish intuitions when they cannot fund the existing ones.

We demand, therefore, that government revive our education system because of the urgency of the time we are in. There should be proper budgetary allocation for the sector to the tune of UNESCO stipulated percent.

Surely the fight against corruption is on but it is increasingly difficult to ascertain whether the fight is in the interest of the country or not. The goal and strategy is not yet understood, especially as it appears that only president Muhammadu Buhari is the only one doing the fight. The National Assembly which is supposed to be part of the agents of sanctity is embroiled in unnecessary controversies.

Corruption is the bane of Nigeria’s development. We are tired of recounting our placement in the global transparency index. Wherever you look, it has been endless stories of corruption in public offices. It does not even make any sense listing those culpable any more since some of them are gradually winning their cases in court. It is because of corruption that we do not have functional refineries even as a major player in the oil and gas industry. After spending $16bn and more the power sector has remained comatose. The scourge has undermined merit and enthroned mediocrity, cronyism and nepotism. The judiciary has not helped issues.

Your Excellencies, Nigerian workers are worried that the major institutions that are supposed to fight corruption have themselves become corrupt going by recent revelations. It is indeed painful that the resources that would have been used for national development are recycled into private pockets. We are of the opinion that corrupt government officials be treated as murderers, armed robbers and terrorists. We need a law to back this up.

The poor performance of the power sector is evidence of ineffectiveness of governments and the new owners. We kicked against privatisation but government told us it was the way to go. After the takeover, not much has been achieved, even with continued government subsidies. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, governments have spent on average about US$2bn annually on electricity provision, but with little service improvements to show for it. The highest we have got in terms of generation is 5,075 Megawatt.

Your Excellencies and comrades, severally the organized labour and anti-poverty groups have condemned and protested against the rises in monthly bills. It was uncalled for and unjustifiable because there has been no significant improvement in services delivery to warrant such increment. We applaud the Senate for supporting us on this very one

There is need for the new owners to make strategic investment in facilities to ensure constant supplies of Gas to these Plants. While the Congress commends workers in the sector represented by Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) for their patience, we must also warn that the authority should not take that virtue for granted. Most importantly, enforcement of terms of sale rather than pampering of the buyers is sine-qua-non to success of power sector reforms and Government must activate its 40% shareholdings in discos to checkmate their excesses.

Comrades, we are glad that insecurity which was a major factor suffocating the Construction and Civil engineering industry in Nigeria is gradually coming to an end. There is relative peace in the North-east and South-south. We have lost foreign nationals and Nigerians to militancy but we are not giving up.  Our second challenge is the huge debt portfolios of the government to contractors in the industry which has led to mass sack of workers and casualisation of many due to lack of money to pay salaries. We urge government to take the issue of local content very seriously. There are many Nigerians today in the construction industry that are acquainted with the international best practices. It makes no sense contracting minor construction jobs to expatriates when we have Nigerians who can undertake them.

The Nigerian workers are inundated with the concession of some of our National utilities with particular reference to the Nigerian Railway Corporation. It is on record that the demise of the rail system in Nigeria cannot be traced to the workers but Government and management.

The labour movement will resist any reform aimed at throwing workers into the employment market and a rail system that is anti-people, in terms of price.

When Mr. Barack Obama, the immediate past president of the US said that what Africa needs is strong institutions and not strong men many people especially our leaders criticized him. But the man was right. Institutions are guided by regulations and ethics and these regulations act as a check to individuals and organizations. The reality on ground is that most of our institutions have become neck-deep in corruption. Sadly, they even provide escape routes to the criminals thereby emboldening them.

Leaders of institutions look at the body language of the man who has appointed them instead of doing their job. Some even use it to witch hunt the perceived enemies of the man who appointed them and their own enemies too. There is need for a legal framework that would enable them to operate effectively and efficiently. If the fight against corruption must be won all organs of government and agencies, Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, police, judiciary, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) must stop colluding to defraud the nation. We urge government to appreciate the fact that our institutions are ailing and needs urgent attention.

Our health sector is a weird one. Sometimes one wonders whether there will ever be an end to the indiscriminate loss of lives as a result of government’s indifference. With this attitude the search for improved health care delivery may not be near. Not long ago, Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) embarked on a nationwide protest over breach of 2009 collectively signed agreement with the government. The doctors and nurses also have their issues.

The issues raised are not self-serving. They lamented lack of basic working equipment for diagnosis, corruption in the federal ministry of health, shortage of manpower at various professions, preferential treatment of medical practitioners in the sector, wrong interpretation of extant laws on the appointment of Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) and Medical Directors of tertiary hospitals, among others. The medical doctors and nurses have their own complaint. These incessant strikes and protests hamper progress and leads to loss of lives.

The situation in the health sector has forced many people away from public hospitals to privately owned ones where cost of services is prohibitive and hardly affordable. Many others too have had to rely on traditional medicine as an alternative. These factors necessitate migration of our best hands to the USA, Canada, etc. in search for greener pasture. There is absolute disrespect for human lives in Nigeria.

Your Excellencies and Comrades, some have said that our health services have been replaced with unprecedented and unbridled activism that ignores and disrespects the ethics and established norms of unionism. This position is economical with the truth because it did not consider the fact that the health workers have families that they fend for. They have to pay school fees, rent, fuel their cars, feed, etc. How will they meet these needs if they are not paid? I have never heard of any politician even at councillorship level or the retinue of aides whose salary was delayed two months. What is sauce to the goose is also sauce to the gander.

Your Excellencies and comrades, to tackle the challenges of the health sector government has to implement agreements reached with Joint Health sector unions (JOHESU) and Joint Research and Allied Institutions sector unions (JORAISU) on 12 months arrears of 53.37 percent on CONRAISS, arrears of promotion, retirement benefits, relativity and other allowances have to be paid too.

Like we have noted earlier, government must ban medical tourism. Virtually all politicians travel abroad to treat headache, minor injuries, malaria, razor blade cuts, etc. Even wives of Local Government Councilors and aides of politicians now put to bed abroad. Health is one sector we cannot afford to toy with. Life is sacred and should be treated as such.

The long years of negligence and adverse policies of government which has led to the under-utilisation of needed resources to maximum economic benefits is a major reason for unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria sees unemployment as a deliberate creation of our politicians. They know that when the youths are engaged they will cease to be willing tools for political thuggery, ballot box snatchers, body guards, etc. Politicians make our youths do what they would not want their children do. They call the youths “future generation” yet they crush their opportunities. We are in a recession and yet there is hardly any week billions of naira, British pounds, Euros are not recovered from markets, abandoned houses, toilets, airport, etc. We urge government to invest all the recovered loot in infrastructure, manufacturing and any enterprise that would lead to job creation and economic growth.

It is an understatement to say that the massive devaluation of the Naira has made nonsense of the take home pay of an average Nigerian worker particularly the civil servants. Most of them are now living below the poverty line as the middle class has been completely wiped out in the country as a result of the high level of inflation. It is worthy of note that the Palliative Committee set up by the Government to fashion out measures to cushion the effect of petrol price increase on the people had concluded its assignment and established the framework for the negotiation of a new National Minimum Wage. We therefore appeal to the Federal Government to set up the Committee to do the negotiation so that a new National Minimum Wage for the Country can be arrived at in the next few months.

Your Excellencies and comrades, we have observed that politician have a tradition of taking advantage of our annual fiscal plans to loot the national treasury. It is often packaged in a manner that it elicits the hopes of Nigerians, but the promise was never achieved.

We acknowledge the fact that our sorry state pre-dates this administration. What Nigerians are after now is no longer a matter of who caused our problem but how the country can get back on its feet again. Yes, there is urgent need for serious restructuring and overhauling of the whole system. We need policies, designed to permanently put the economy on a path of sustainable growth. The Federal Government must marshal out strategies on how to diversify the economy. Nigeria is in a dire strait but there is hope if government would take advantage of our natural resources to raise revenues while it works its talk on diversification.

Our National budgets must be realistic enough and the passage into Law should be done with little acrimonies like the types we have witnessed in the past years.

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria strongly condemns the call for the removal of National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive list to the Concurrent list by the House of Representatives, in a bill being sponsored by one of its members. The Congress sees this in bad light and as an attempt to alter the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from the back door.

For the umpteenth time, it needs be emphasized that labour rather than politicians have held this country together even from colonial days. Any attempt to openly or surreptitiously undermine the Nigerian workers or labour movement shall be resisted with all arsenals within our control. To be for warned is to be for armed.

In conclusion, the federal government must understand that the world of work that is being undermined today is central to humanity. It is painful that we build the prairies upon which this country thrives yet the political classes muzzle us. Our work defines us. We are always willing to work because we know the consequence of not working. Government must realize that one of the most dangerous people on earth are people who do not know where the next meal will come from, people who feel that nobody cares about their predicament and sees no reason to want to live, people who cannot meet the needs of their kids. The federal government must take the creation of new workplaces seriously through empowerment schemes that would make real impact on the nation and not the jamborees that are celebrated in the media. This is the way to go if government really wants to deal with insurgency, political thuggery, suicides, robbery and the general discontentment towards the country.

I humbly want to congratulate the Nigerian workers and the great people of this country for remaining hopeful in the Nigerian project. I urge you all to always have it at the back of your minds that no slave master releases his slave willingly which is why we must not relent in our struggle to emancipate ourselves from the shackles of oppression and achieve a better Nigeria.

Comrades, I urge you all to guard your loins because the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria will not hesitate to deploy the needed tools at its disposal to ensure that this pain and agonies come to an end. We will strike, picket and mobilize when and where necessary if we do not see meaningful changes in the nearest future. This docility must stop; we must stop further preying of our national resources.

Happy May Day celebrations! If God wills, we shall see again in 2018.