The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have written to the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to intimate him on the workers resolved to embark on strike, effective from 17 of October 2019.
The workers last week following a stalled negotiation on the consequential adjustment of the N30.000 minimum wage, gave till October 16, 2019 for government to reconvene the meeting and conclude negotiation on minimum wage issue within one week or face industrial action.
The letter which was signed by Presidents of NLC Ayuba Wabba and his TUC counterpart Quadri Olaleye, General Secretary of NLC Emmanuel Ogboaja and his TUC counterpart Musa Lawal as well as Chairman of the Joint National Public Service Negotiation Council, Anchaver Simon and Secretary Alade Bashir Lawal said Labour has been pushed to the wall in respect of the stalled negotiations of the consequential adjustment of the N30.000 national minimum wage.
The letter further said if concrete steps are not taken to address the issue at stake, arrangement has been concluded to embark on strike to press home her demand.
Also at the sideline of a mobilisation meeting with units chairmen, Secretaries and treasurers of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) in Ministry Department and Agencies (MDAs), in Abuja, General Secretary of the Association, Comrade Alade Lawal accused government of insensitive to plight of workers.
According to him, ” the measure of seriousness can only be seen if something concrete is done between now and the 16th, we are not part of government, we don’t know what they are doing, we can’t preempt them, so let’s see what happens between now and the 16th, if after the 16th and nothing is done, maybe, we can start rationalising”.
On partial implementation of the minimum wage, the labour leader said “as far as I am concerned, nothing has been implemented, what are they implementing, we are negotiating something and somebody went behind to start issuing one circular.
“As far as we as concerned in labour, nothing has been done, and if you want to look at it, levels one to three has been outsourced, how many people are there, so when you even look at the circular, it’s full of errors, as far as we are concerned, no circular has been issued”.
When asked if the private sector whose have begin implementing the new wage would also join in the action, he said “It is both the public and the private, you know in the labor parlance, an injury to one, is an injury to all, so whether you have implemented the 30,000 minimum wage or not, you go on sympathy strike, its going to be a national strike”.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige Wednesday met separately with the members of Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council; the leadership of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria(TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) to resolve the impasse over the consequential adjustment of the National Minimum Wage.
While the meeting with the Labour commenced by 11:30 and ended 2pm, that with the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council is still on-going as at the time of filling this report.
The meeting resolved however that each group would hold further meetings to sort out all outstanding disagreements before a high level conclusive meeting to wrap up all discussions, paving the way for an equable implementation of the Consequential Adjustment of the Minimum Wage scheduled for Tuesday, 15th October, 2019.
Those in attendance were Hon. Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, Hon. Minister of State, Finance, Budget and Planning, Clement Agba, Hon. Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo(SAN) Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi- Esan, Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, Acting Chairman, National Salaries Income and Wages Commission Ekpo Nta and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris. Also were Deputy President NLC, Comrade Amaechi Asogwuni, the General Secretary of the NLC, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, Comrade Achaver Simon as well as the representatives of the Trade Union Congress(TUC) standing in for the Labour.
