Organised labour in Nigeria has announced a nationwide indefinite strike set to commence at midnight on Sunday, June 2, 2024, following the collapse of negotiations regarding a new national minimum wage for workers.
With this, workers across the country are expected to down tools from 1 a.m. on Monday, 3rd June 2024.
Addressing the media in Abuja on Friday, Presidents of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo, said the action is to protest what they described as the abandonment of negotiations of a new national minimum wage for workers in Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the two Labour Unions, TUC President Mr. Festus Osifo stated that the negotiation scheduled for Friday, May 31st, could not proceed due to the absence of a government representative with the necessary mandate.
The only official present was the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mrs. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who serves as a mediator. Consequently, Labour had no option but to enforce its May Day ultimatum of May 31st, which was given to the government to meet its demands.
He said that the last time the Committee met and the government offered a wage of Sixty thousand naira (N60,000.00), labour made it clear it was unacceptable and will expect the government to reconvene the meeting when it has a better offer for workers.
“When we left that meeting, we informed them that we don’t want to attend any other meeting without commitment from government. And any other meeting they want to call us for, there must be clear commitment of which they agreed.
“They invited us for a meeting again today. We deliberated on it, we felt okay as patriotic Nigeria, that we should attend that meeting thinking that they have the necessary commitments. We went to the meeting again today. To our surprised there was really no representation from government.
“There was no substantive Ministers in that meeting, they will have representatives without mandates, apart from the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, that is actually the conciliator, there was no representation from the federal government. There was no representation from the State government. So technically they abandoned the meeting.
“So, getting into the meeting, there was nobody to offer anything. So they still remain on the 60,000 they had offered, so we’re now wondering, why did they invite us for the meeting, that we attended this meeting as people that love Nigeria, but government on its own refuse to do anything,” Osifo said.
Also Read: Minimum Wage: Nigeria Offers N60,000 To Workers
Emphasising the reasons behind the call for a strike, the TUC President reminded Nigerians that an ultimatum had already been issued to the government regarding their demands. He noted that this ultimatum expired at midnight on Friday, May 31st.
“You remember very well, that we issued an ultimate on first of May 2024, during the May Day Rally, on two items. Number one, the electricity tariff hike, as well as the minimum wage.
“You remember clearly that we had taken a protest to NERC and the DISCOS registering our displeasure. You know that as I speak to you today there is no word from the government, even the Minister of Power…. to even invite us, for us to sit down and have that conversation. Because our demand was that there should be a reversal from 225 Naira per kilowatt down to where it was before 66 Naira per kilowatt.
“We are calling on government to be much more responsive to the plight of the Nigerian workers. We are calling on them, that the hardship that we are currently facing is as a result of the policies that were brought about by this government that we felt were not well thought out.
“Today is 31st of May 2024. And this night, the ultimatum expires. So, gentlemen of the press, we are hereby declaring the commencement of a nationwide industrial action nationwide strike effective from Monday, June 3 2024.
“And these strikes shall be indefinite, and this strike shall be on until we have a new national minimum wage,” Osifo said.
While fielding questions from journalists, President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, stated that workers remain open to negotiations during the ongoing strike.
He reiterated that the strike will be called off once a new minimum wage is agreed upon.
When asked if the leadership of the NLC and TUC have made arrangements to support their members in case the strike is prolonged, Ajaero explained that such provisions are only made if a strike lasts more than one month. He added that he does not anticipate this action extending for that long.
“And when such thing happens, it is not the umbrella bodies that provide such welfare but individual unions are expected to take care of their members, but we will cross the bridge when we get there,” Ajaero said.
BREAKING NEWS: COMMENCEMENT OF AN INDEFINITE NATIONWIDE STRIKE OVER THE
INCONCLUSIVE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE NEGOTIATION AND REFUSAL TO
REVERSE THE HIKE IN ELECTRICITY TARIF pic.twitter.com/ejMMDeSfWs— Nigeria Labour Congress HQ (@NLCHeadquarters) May 31, 2024
