The Organised Labour, yesterday announced plan to meet today and finalise plans on the new national minimum wage for workers.
This follows the delay by the federal government to announce its figure.
Although, a minimum wage of between N20, 000 and N24, 000 was being bandied for the state and federal civil servants respectively, the workers are still bent on pressing ahead with their N30, 000 proposals.
President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, hinted this in an interview with NAN in Abuja.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, had said there was no agreement yet by the Tripartite Committee on the new national minimum wage figure in the country.
Wabba said the struggle for a new minimum wage for workers was on course, saying that labour was proposing N30, 000 as requested by the organised private sector.
“So, we as Organised Labour will be meeting tomorrow (Thursday) in Lagos after which we will brief newsmen on the outcome of our decision,” he added.
FG goes tough on strike Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council has approved the implementation of the ‘no-work, no pay’ rule for workers in the employ of the federal government that go on strike.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting in Abuja, said the approval was sequel to the adoption of the Draft White Paper on the Report of the Technical Committee on Industrial Relations Matters in the Federal Public Service.
He said the public service was bedevilled with problems and conflicts, hence the need for government to stem the tide of industrial dispute.
The minister said the technical committee, inaugurated on April 27, 2016, submitted its report to the FEC in October 2017.
He said: “FEC in turn, empanelled a committee of 10 which I chaired, to do a government Draft White Paper on those contentious areas that the technical committee had looked at.
“These contentious areas are enforcement of Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act Law of the Federation 2004; this is the section that deals with lockout of workers by their employers without declaring redundancy appropriately.
“Because in some establishments, especially in the private sector, workers are locked out by their employers; so the law there says that if you lock your workers without passing through the normal channel-due process.
“For the period of the lockout, the worker is assumed to be at work and will receive all the remunerations and allowances, benefits accruing to him for the period and that period will also be counted for him as a pensionable period in the computation of his pension.
But when workers go on strike, the principle of no-work-no-pay will also apply because that principle is enshrined in the same section 43 of the Labour Act.” He said the rule stipulates that for the period a worker withdraws his or her services, government or employers are not entitled to pay, stressing that under the section, the period for which the worker was absent would not count as part of his pensionable period in the public service.
He said the council accepted the recommendation and ordered that it should be gazetted, because even the National Industrial Court had made pronouncement on that law, saying it was clear.
He said another area the government expressed concern was the issue of public servants remaining permanently in the executive bodies on trade unions.
“Government realises that some persons in the public service go into trade union executive positions; hold offices; and they do that for life; for as long as they are in the service.
“In doing so, they will refuse postings and deployments under the guise that are doing trade union activities; government says no.
“You have to be a public servant first before you become a trade unionist.
Therefore, if you are there, the public service rules will also apply to you.
And in doing so, government says establishments will look at the issues and give it a human face in order not to disrupt trade unionism.
“And in furtherance to this, government has also said that there must be tenure stipulations because people stay there without tenure; many organisations give people union positions without tenure; government says there is no office that does not have tenure,” he said.
We‘ll resist -Labour But the Organised Labour has threatened to resist the federal government’s planned ‘no work, no pay rule,’ asking the government to also enforce ‘no pay no work rule’.
The position was jointly made by Wabba and General Secretary of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Comrade Bashir Lawal, who said strike remains the only weapon workers have.
Wabba said: “They cannot apply any law contrary to the spirit of the law which is, you cannot apply no work no pay in isolation, but you must put it side by side with no pay no work and that is the principle.
“So, that is the principle that led to that provision.
So, the draft is with bad intention.
However, workers and unions would not be cowed not to exercise their right to withdrawing their services in any circumstances that did not meet their expectations.
The law is very explicit, after 30 days a worker is supposed to be paid.
“So, it would have made sense if they pronounced it the order way, which is ‘no pay no work’ and that would have accommodated the interest of everyone.
“There is no where around the world that a worker is prevented from exercising his right of withdrawing his service anytime he is regarded as slave.
Workers are not slaves that you can apply such law on.” On his part, Comrade Lawal said,”let me be frank with you, it would not work.
They are just wasting their time.
They have forgotten that they are voted in by the people, a time would come that we will chase them out.
“No Bill can stop strike because that is the only weapon workers have and I am saying with every sense of responsibility that it would not work.
