Organised Labour Hints On Resumption Of Strike After Tuesday, If…
…Insists On N250,000 Minimum Wage
The Organised Labour led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Monday, June10, 2024 declared they would not negotiate a starvation wage of N100,000 let alone N62,000 that was never at any time contemplated by workers in Nigeria as minimum wage.
This was as the Organised Labour said that if the Executive arm of the Federal Government and National Assembly do not respond its request for ₦250,000 Minimum wage by Tuesday, June 11, 2024, the NLC and TUC will convene to determine whether to resume the nationwide strike that was temporarily halted last week.
Labour specifically said Nigerian workers were not driven by frivolities. but the realities of the market place; realities of things Nigerians buy every day that included bag of rice, yam, garri, tomatoes among others food stuff.
Comrade Chris Onyeka, Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, who stated the position of the Orgnaised Labour when he featured on Channels Television programme; ‘The Morning Brief Show’ on Monday, said that Labour did at any time considered accepting ₦62,000 or any other wage that it knows is below what would be able to take Nigerian workers home.
In the words of Onyeka; “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 said.
Onyeka further 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.
“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,” he declared.
