By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
In keeping with its earlier warning of a total shutdown of Nigeria’s economy, the organised labour has withdrawn their services in a nationwide strike to push for a new national minimum wage for workers.
This is even as the last-ditch efforts by the National Assembly (NASS) to persuade labour unionists to shelve the strike did not succeed as the meeting was inconclusive.
Both Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), its counterpart, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have already mobilised their affiliates for action and have issued public notices reading:”Victory comes by Struggle, A Living Wage is Possible”.
Prompt News reports that the industrial action which started in the early hours of Monday nationwide comes after a series of unsuccessful negotiations involving the NLC, TUC and federal government representatives at the Tripartite Committee meetings on the new minimum wage.
Twice, negotiations broke down among labour and government and last Friday government offered a marginal increase of N3,000 to the N57,000 offer it had earlier made to come up with a N60,000 minimum wage proposal, a figure deemed unsatisfactory by labour representatives.
But labour has pitched for N494,000, which they consider adequate for Nigerian workers to reflect the current rising cost of living.
Expectedly, many affiliates of NLC and TUC such as the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), National Union of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE), the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), the National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), and Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) have already withdrawn their services nationwide. READ ALSO:
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Other affiliates that have withdrawn their services include the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
