The Organised Labour said the one-week suspended strike grace period given to the Federal Government last Tuesday, June 4, 2024, would expire by the midnight of Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Labour said should the Federal Government and National Assembly fail to act on the demands of workers by Tuesday, the organs of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) would meet to decide on the resumption of the nationwide industrial action relaxed last week.
Chris Onyeka, an Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, stated this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief show on Monday.
He said Labour won’t accept any ₦62,000 or ₦100,000 “starvation wage” as the minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
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“We have never contemplated ₦100,000 let alone of ₦62,000. We are still at ₦250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation. We are not just driven by frivolities but the realities of the market place; realities of things we buy every day: bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that.”
He insisted on ₦250,000, labour’s latest demand at the last meeting of the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage on Friday, as the living wage for an average Nigerian worker.
The NLC Official said, “The Federal Government and the National Assembly have the call now. It is not our call. Our demand is there for them (the government) to look at and send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, and for the National Assembly to look at what we have demanded, the various fact of the law, and then come up with a National Minimum Act that meets our demands.
“If that does not meet our demand, we have given the Federal Government a one-week notice to look at the issues and that one week expires tomorrow (Tuesday). If after tomorrow, we have not seen any tangible response from the government, the organs of the Organised Labour will meet to decide on what next.”
When asked what the decision of Labour would be should the government insists on ₦62,000, he said, “It was clear what we said. We said we are relaxing a nationwide indefinite strike. It’s like putting a pause on it. So, if you put a pause on something and that organs that govern us as trade unions decide that we should remove that pause, it means that we go back to what was in existence before.”
Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage submits report
The Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, on Monday, submitted report to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation following the conclusion of its assignment.
This was stated in statement signed by the Director of Information and Public Relations in office of the SGF, Segun Imohiosen.
He said the that a formal presentation of the Report will be made to President Bola Tinubu for appropriate action, when the leadership of the Organised Labour as well as representatives of Government and Organised Private Sector, who are presently in Geneva, Switzerland for the ongoing International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference, return to the country.
The SGF thanked the Chairman of the Committee, Bukar Goni Aji and members for their commitment and sacrifices.
Tinubu had inaugurated a 37-Member Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, on Tuesday 30th January 2024, in accordance with the provisions of the Minimum Wage Act, 2019.
The Committee was tasked with the responsibility of recommending a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers in public and private sectors.
