Minimum wage or strike: Nigerian labour tells government

Workers told the Federal and state governments yesterday to pay the N18,000 minimum wage and stop the planned removal of petroleum products subsidy or face a strike.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), at a joint news conference in Abuja, issued a two-week ultimatum for “full implementation of the wage law”.

NLC President Abduwaheed Omar and TUC President General Peter Esele spoke to reporters on what they termed the “manifest reluctance of the Federal Government and state governments to implement the minimum wage, which has consequently caused implementation inertia in the private sector”.

They asked unions in public and private sectors to mobilise Nigerians for a nationwide strike at the expiration of the ultimatum.

Omar said: “Anything short of N18,000 minimum wage is totally unacceptable.”

The governors have said they will be unable to pay N18,000, unless there is removal of subsidy on petroleum products to fatten the Federation Account for more money to be shared.

They are also requesting for the review of the revenue formula for states to have more cash.

The labour unions said there would be no more room for negotiation, adding that the only option is the implementation of the minimum wage.

Esele said: “Even if we are called 24 hours to the expiration of the deadline, we will go on with the strike. What we expect is implementation. Let me ask you one question, if they call us for a meeting, are they going to pay us the N18,000 minimum wage right away? So, what we are talking about is the law. There is no negotiation anymore. It is like taking someone to court and they deliver judgment based on the law. The N18,000 wage is based on the law.”

Esele described the failure to implement the minimum wage as a negation of law and insensitivity to the people’s plight.

He said: “The difference between what the governors are doing and what Boko Haram is doing is that the Boko Haram is just exploding bombs, which we are against because they are also showing lack of respect for the law of the country. That too is what the governors are doing; showing lack of respect for the law of the country.”

According to him, the fact that no political party is opposed to the “lawlessness” shows that there is no opposition party in the country.

The organised labour recalled that having reviewed the minimum wage law, it came to the sad realisation that no tier of government has implemented the law, which became effective in March.

Omar said the National Salaries and Wages Commission has been unwilling to produce a table for implementation to enable the Federal Government implement the law.

He said while some state governments indicated their readiness to pay, others are blackmailing their colleagues.

The NLC President said some governors were applying the twin-tool of intimidation and timid compromise on the workers leadership by threatening mass sack and high taxation.

He said: “We hereby serve notice that any state government that indulges in this or induces an illicit agreement to pay less than N18,000 will have to contend with a most robust form of resistance ever in the annals of workers solidarity in our country.”

Omar described the Nigerian Governors Forum as a social forum, which has engaged “in a show of reckless insensitivity to the plight of the Nigerian people and have introduced strange elements into the scene, geared at subverting the process”.

He said: “We find this laughable and completely unacceptable because the law is clear and unambiguous. All stakeholders were party to the formulation of the law and we know of the fact that they can pay the N18,000 minimum wage.”

On the proposed removal of subsidy, Omar said the introduction of the argument for the withdrawal of subsidy was tantamount to asking the government to increase the prices of petroleum products and further impoverish the masses.

“Again, we reject this, and state unequivocally that there can be no conditionality for payment of the new minimum wage,” he said.

He insisted that Labour would not succumb to the blackmail of the masses to accept an increase in fuel prices.

“Any attempt to increase the prices of petrol in guise of deregulation will be resisted, and organised labour is willing, ready and capable of leading the Nigerian people on mass resistance against such unprovoked, unpatriotic move,” Omar said.

Source: The Nation