Negotiations between Federal Government and Organised Labour have broken down over the implementation of N30,000 New Minimum Wage.
The Federal Government has refused to send a draft bill on the National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly to legislate into law.
While the State governors are undecided in reaching agreement for payment of the money, Organised Labour insist that the N30,000 a month is no longer negotiable.
Tuesday is fixed by Organised Labour and its civil society allies to hold a nationwide mobilisation and mass protest to force government into action.
As the deadline eats up, nationwide strike is looming and palpable.
Though a definite day for the commencement of the nationwide strike is yet to be announced, labour had on December 20, 2018, while issuing a December 31, 2018, deadline to the government over the issue, declared: “Organised Labour will not guarantee industrial peace and harmony if after December 31, 2018, the draft bill is not transmitted to the National Assembly.
”This serves as a statutory notice for Organised Labour to recall our suspended nationwide industrial action.”
Reinforcing the threat that a nationwide strike could start at anytime without further notice, Joe Ajaero, President of United Labour Congress of Nigeria, ULC, said though no date had been fixed for commencement of the strike, it could start the next day after the national protest.
”It can start today, it can start at anytime. We agreed during our meeting (of leaders of organized labour) on December 20, 2018, in Lagos that the December 31 deadline given to government to send a draft bill to the National Assembly to legislate the N30,000 minimum wage recommendation by the Tripartite Committee, serves as a final notice to the government for us to resume the suspended November 6, 2018 nationwide strike.
”What that means is that a nationwide strike can start today, tomorrow or next without further notice to the government,” Ajaero said.
Speaking on today’s protest, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, General Secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, said Monday that NLC’s 36 state councils, affiliate unions and friendly groups, such as civil society organisations, CSOs, have mobilised for the nationwide mass protest.
Ozo-Esan in a statement, titled “Tuesday is a day of protest and mass mobilization”, read: “It has come to our attention that some section of the news media have largely misrepresented our action plan in reaction to the delay in transmitting the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee on a new National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It should be recalled that the National Executive Council, NEC, of NLC met on December 17 last year and directed that we hold nationwide mobilisation of workers and our allies, if by December 31, 2018, the bill on the National Minimum is not sent to the National Assembly to be passed as an Act of Parliament.
“We immediately announced then that on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, there will be a nationwide mass mobilisation and protests simultaneously across all states in Nigeria. This does not translate to a strike. It is on record that each time we had cause to embark on a national strike, we say so publicly without any equivocation.
“We still don’t understand where the story about a strike commencing tomorrow (today) came from. Already, all our state councils, affiliate unions and allies in other pro-people mass organisations now popularly referred to as civil society organisations, have been fully informed and mobilised to ensure the success of tomorrow’s mass protests in all the states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
”When a date is decided for the commencement of a strike subsequently, we will inform the public appropriately.”
Similarly, the Joint Action Front, JAF, while declaring members support for today’s protest, insisted that the N30,000 minimum wage, as recommended and submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, was no longer negotiable.
In a joint statement by its National Chairman and Secretary, Dr. Dipo Fashina and Abiodun Aremu, JAF said: “The Joint Action Front, JAF, declares its support for the nationwide mass mobilisation and mass protests being organised by Organised Labour Tuesday in furtherance of the struggle for the actualisation of the of N30,000 as the new Minimum Wage, which was agreed and endorsed by all parties in the Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee.
“JAF, hereby, urges its affiliates, allies and other pro-Labour civil society organisations to mobilise their members across the country to join forces with Organised Labour in their respective locations on January 8 to sensitise Nigerians on the necessity of a general strike to enforce the N30,000 Minimum Wage against the anti-poor stand of governors, employers and Buhari’s government.”
