Minimum Wage:NLC declares nationwide strike;including ASUU,Abia state workers....

A nationwide strike has been declared in
Nigeria to mount pressure on the Federal
Government to comply with the demands of
the Labour Union.

The Nigeria Labour Congress has directed all
its members and affiliate unions to
commence a nationwide strike on Thursday
(today).

The organised labour had held a meeting
with the Minister of Labour and Employment,
Chris Ngige, in Abuja on Wednesday, which
did not produce the expected outcome.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the
industrial action would commence due to the
refusal of the Federal Government to
reconvene the meeting of the tripartite
national minimum wage committee to enable
it to conclude its work.

He said, “In compliance with this mandate, all
workers and private sector at all levels across
the country have been directed to comply.
“All public and private institutions, offices,
banks, schools, public and private business
premises, including filling station, are to remain
shut till further notice,” Wabba said at a news
conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
The workers are demanding a new minimum
wage of about N50,000 from the current
national minimum wage of N18,000.

Tripartite committee resumes October 4
However, Ngige told journalists after a
meeting with labour leaders that the tripartite
committee on national minimum wage would
resume negotiations on October 4.
“We are resuming precisely on Thursday,
October 4, and the meeting can spill over to
October 5. All the processes have been put in
place and labour leaders know; they are now
expected to communicate such to their organs;
so we don’t have any need for a strike,” he
said.

Asked if the government team had concluded
its consultation on the minimum wage with
governors, Ngige said it would be done when
the tripartite committee resumed, adding that
the government was still consulting with
other stakeholders.

He said, “Part of our consultation means the
economic management team would have
something to work on. Already, they are working
on it, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages
Commission is working on it and it is expected
that before the October meeting, they would have
been through with work.”

Ngige said a bill would still have to go
through the National Assembly after approval
by the Federal Executive Council.
But Wabba said the unions had to brief their
organs before calling off the strike.

He said, “Our demand is that the tripartite
negotiating council should be brought back
to complete its assignment. He has given us
an update and we are taking back the
discussion we had with him.”
But the NLC Secretary-General, Dr Peter Ozo-
Eson, told one of our correspondents that the
strike would proceed as planned,
He asked, “Have we said anything to the
contrary?”

 NUPENG, COEASU, JUSUN workers to join
strike
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria said it would join the
strike as long as its labour centre – the
Trade Union Congress – was involved.

The spokesman for the organisation, Mr
Babatunde Oke, said, “We are going to be part
of it. As long as our labour centre is involved,
we are also involved. We are going to take part
in the strike if TUC so directs us.”

Also, the national leadership of the Judiciary
Staff Union of Nigeria directed its members
to join the warning strike.

The President of JUSUN, Mr Marwan Adamu,
said in a statement on Wednesday that
“effective from midnight on Wednesday” all
courts in the country must remain closed
pending a counter instruction from the
national secretariat of the union.”
On its part, the Colleges of Education
Academic Staff Union said that it would
embark on the warning strike in solidarity
with the NLC.

The COEASU National President, Nuhu
Ogirima, said, “The academic union will join the
strike because it has become evident that
dialogue and diplomacy would not make the
government change its stance.

He said, “It is also expedient to take this action
against the crass insensitivity of governments at
both state and federal levels to the plight of the
colleges of education.”

ASUU to consult with leadership
But the Academic Staff Union of Universities
said it would consult with its leadership and
trustees before joining the strike.
The ASUU National President, Prof. Biodun
Ogunyemi, told one of our correspondents on
the telephone on Wednesday that he could
not decide without an approval from the
ASUU executives and trustees.

Ogunyemi said, “We are part of the NLC. We
are an affiliate of the NLC. But we are
waiting for the final decision and we are
consulting. I am also consulting with the
ASUU leadership.”

But the Owerri Zonal Coordinator of ASUU,
Prof Uzo Onyebinama, during a press
conference at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University,
Awka, Anambra State, on Wednesday said
the union might join the strike.

‘Abia workers to comply'

In Abia State, the Chairman of the NLC, Chief
Uchenna Obigwe directed federal and state
government workers in the state to comply
with the directive to embark on the strike.
Obigwe, while briefing journalists in Umuahia,
said the NLC viewed the silence of the
Federal Government to its demand for a new
minimum wage as sabotage.

FG, NLC must consider national interests –
SERAP
Meanwhile, a civil society organisation, the
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project, has warned that the nation’s
economy would be negatively affected by the
strike, urging the NLC and the Federal
Government to consider the national
interests.
The SERAP Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni,
said,
 “In Nigeria, strikes are not an option; a
strike will stop the economy and further
impoverish Nigerians. What I seek is that the
government should settle the minimum wage
issue so that our economy can continue to
operate at a full speed.

“The NLC should also consider  the interests of
the workers and of the nation and resolve this
issue quickly.”
Source: Punch