Nigerian Workers Set Date For General Strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC has declared a three day national strike that will start from Wednesday, 20th July to Friday, 22, July over what it described as the failure of government at all levels and employers in the private sector to implement the N18,000.00 minimum wage signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan this year.

NLC said the general strike will be against federal, States, Local Governments and the private sector.

The Labour Union also reiterated its rejection of the decision of the Federal Government that the minimum wage will apply to only workers on grade level 01 to 06 in the Federal Civil Service.

Briefing journalists on the outcome of the emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of convened to get an update on the extent of the implementation of the minimum wage, this afternoon, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar, President NLC said the Union “has painfully observed that three months since the new national minimum wage became law, no government whether Federal, State or Local Government has implemented it”. “Also, no private sector employer has paid the new wages”, he added.While acknowledging that many State governments have promised to pay the minimum wage, the NLC President observed that there is yet “no negotiated table on which the Minimum wage is based” existence in those States.

Comrade Omar also said some of the Governors are allowing their colleagues to hold them to ransom on the implementation of the minimum wage.The Labour Union President also said the Federal Government is also violating the National Minimum Wage law with its attempt to restrict the implementation to only a category of workers.“The attempted decision of by the Federal Government to make the new national minimum wage implementation applicable only to workers on Grade level 01 to 06 in the Federal Service is not acceptable to us”, said Omar. Omar said Labour had expected that the Federal Government would set a good example as a good employer by paying above the minimum base of N18, 000.00.“This will be in line with the Labour-Federal Government understanding in year 2000, that the Federal Government, Lagos and the oil producing States would pay higher than the minimum wage. This was the reason that the Federal Government, Lagos and oil producing States paid a minimum wage of N7,500.00 which was higher that the legislated minimum wage of N5,500.00”, said OmarAyorinde/AbujaThe Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC has declared a three day national strike that will start from Wednesday, 20th July to Friday, 22, July over what it described as the failure of government at all levels and employers in the private sector to implement the N18,000.00 minimum wage signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan this year.NLC said the general strike will be against federal States, Local Governments and the private sector.The Labour Union also reiterated its rejection of the decision of the Federal Government that the minimum wage will apply to only workers on grade level 01 to 06 in the Federal Civil Service.Briefing journalists on the outcome of the emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of convened to get an update on the extent of the implementation of the minimum wage, this afternoon, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar, President NLC said the Union “has painfully observed that three months since the new national minimum wage became law, no government whether Federal, State or Local Government has implemented it”. “Also, no private sector employer has paid the new wages”, he added.While acknowledging that many State governments have promised to pay the minimum wage, the NLC President observed that there is yet “no negotiated table on which the Minimum wage is based” existence in those States.Comrade Omar also said some of the Governors are allowing their colleagues to hold them to ransom on the implementation of the minimum wage.The Labour Union President also said the Federal Government is also violating the National Minimum Wage law with its attempt to restrict the implementation to only a category of workers.“The attempted decision of by the Federal Government to make the new national minimum wage implementation applicable only to workers on Grade level 01 to 06 in the Federal Service is not acceptable to us”, said Omar. Omar said Labour had expected that the Federal Government would set a good example as a good employer by paying above the minimum base of N18, 000.00.“This will be in line with the Labour-Federal Government understanding in year 2000, that the Federal Government, Lagos and the oil producing States would pay higher than the minimum wage. This was the reason that the Federal Government, Lagos and oil producing States paid a minimum wage of N7,500.00 which was higher that the legislated minimum wage of N5,500.00”, said Omar.

By Oluokun Ayorinde/Abuja