Minimum wage: Labour may resume strike Tuesday

The Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has rejected the proposed N62,000 minimum wage offer to the workers.

Chris Onyeka, an Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, stated this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief show on Monday.

Onyeka said should the Federal Government and National Assembly fail to act on the demands of workers by tomorrow (Tuesday), the organs of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) would meet to decide on the resumption of the nationwide industrial action relaxed last week.

The NLC Official said, “We have never contemplated N100,000 let alone of N62,000. We are still at N250,000; 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 also by the realities of the market place—the realities of things we buy every day: bags of rice, yam, garri, and all of that.”

“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.”