• Demand Reversal Of Electricity Tariffs •Labour Minister, NLC, TUC Bigwigs Off To Geneva Monday
• We Cannot Afford 1,547% Increment In Minimum Wage — FG, OPS
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) will in the midnight of Sunday, June 2, begin an indefinite nationwide strike to protest the absence of a national minimum wage 44 days after the 2019 law expired.
The 2019 wage law expired on April 19, 2024, after serving its five-year period, which began on April 18, 2019, when former President Muhammadu Buhari signed it.
The Federal Government has, however, declared that it cannot afford a 1,547 per cent increment in the minimum wage as proposed by the labour unions. The President of the TUC, Festus Osifo, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday after labour held a meeting with the Federal Government, explained that the government appears unserious at reaching an agreement with the labour movement on a new wage.
He berated senior government officials and governors for sending junior officers who were not given necessary approval to reach a new resolution with labour.
Osifo explained: “After we met with the government on Tuesday, we resolved not to honour any further meeting without something concrete from the government. So, when the government invited us today (yesterday), we thought there was a shift in their position. But on getting there, we saw that the only senior government official there was the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. No other minister was there. Apart from that, there was no governor or their representatives at the meeting. That clearly showed that the delegation was a weak one that did not have any mandate to negotiate.
“Then those that came maintained the N60,000 figure that the government presented on Tuesday. Consequent upon this, remember that on May 1, during the Labour Day, we gave an ultimatum that if by May 31, there is no agreement in place, we will declare a nationwide strike. Therefore, the National Executive Council (NEC) of both the NLC and TUC have given the leadership of the movement the mandate to declare a nationwide industrial action from 00.00 hours on Sunday night. This strike will continue until an agreement is found.”
Osifo insisted that labour would not accept a decreed wage, saying: “We will not accept a wage award. A minimum wage is a negotiated wage that cannot be legislated into existence. We must negotiate the final figure, which will be passed to the National Assembly for promulgation into law.”
On what it will take for the NLC and TUC to suspend the planned action, Osifo stated that the Federal Government must come back to the table for negotiations to continue.
He blamed the government for the hardship Nigerians are going through, saying it should take responsibility for restoring hope in the working class. His words: “We are facing this hardship because the government removed subsidy on fuel and liberalised the foreign exchange. One year after the subsidy was removed, the salaries of workers have remained the same amid rising cost of food, house rents, transportation, school fees, drugs and other essentials. Yet, the same government that brought the hardship is finding it difficult to increase wages.”
Labour also berated the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for not dialoguing with them on the demand for the reversal of electricity tariffs.
“You will recall that apart from the national minimum wage, labour also demanded the reversal of electricity tariffs. Indeed, we picketed NERC headquarters here in Abuja and the premises of some electricity distribution companies to make our demands known. Since the picketing took place, the Minister of Power and those in NERC have not deemed it fit to invite labour for talks. Therefore, labour is demanding that the government addresses these two issues,” he added.
The leadership of both the NLC and TUC would be travelling to Geneva, Switzerland for the 112th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which kicks off on Monday, June 3 and will end on Friday, June 14, 2024.
The Minister of Labour, her aides, the permanent secretary and other senior officers in the ministry are also expected to leave for Geneva this weekend.
However, a labour leader, who pleaded anonymity, said the trip of the labour leaders to Geneva would not affect the strike. He explained: “The labour movement is not run by one person or a few people. In both the NLC and TUC, there are deputy presidents and vice presidents, who are empowered to assume leadership roles when the President and even General Secretaries are not around. Besides, the mandate given by the NEC of both Labour centres is unambiguous – suspend the strike when an agreement that is based on negotiations is reached. The movement has set the minimum they will accept. So, the strike can go on for one month and more without any hitch.”
There is also a consensus that the minimum that the movement will accept is N100,000.The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, alluded to this when he said: “We have a working figure that we presented to the governing. That data was generated at the state level and we have asked the government to support their proposed figure with verifiable data and they are not able to do that up to now.
“We based our demand on how much a loaf of bread costs. With about 40 per cent inflation, which is the highest in the history of our country and a currency that has gone so low, the figure we proposed makes sense.”
The Secretariat of Technical Committee of National Minimum Wage (TCNMW) stated this yesterday while reacting to the threat of labour to embark on strike on Monday morning.
Although the committee failed to comment on the proposed strike that is barely 60 hours away, it explained that the N60,000 it proposed is 100 per cent of the current N30,000 minimum wage.
The committee stated that initially, no meeting was slated for yesterday (Friday) but Monday, June 3; hence the absence of key ministers at yesterday’s meeting.
It explained: “At the last meeting of Tuesday, May 28, 2024, all tripartite partners were invited to make their offers. Employers made up of the government side and Organised Private Sector made offers of N60,000.00 per month, which is 100 per cent increase on the existing National Minimum Wage of 2019.
“On their part, the Organised Labour made an offer of N494,000 per month, which is an increase of 1,547 per cent on the existing National Minimum Wage of 2019.
“Both sides stated that their offers of N60,000.00 per month, which is 100 per cent increase on the existing National Minimum Wage of 2019, were based on prevailing economic considerations and governments non-monetary incentives. Thereafter, organised labour walked out of the meeting. During the continuation of the meeting, the government further defended their offer of N60,000 per month, saying it was based on economic considerations and non-monetary incentives, which include the following: N35,000 wage award for all treasury-paid federal workers; N100 billion for the procurement of CNG-fuelled busses and CNG conversion kits.
The committee added that other non-monetary incentives include N125 billion conditional grants and financial inclusion to MSMEs. Also included is N25,000 each to be shared to 15 million households for three months and another N185 billion palliatives (loans to states) to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
It also listed N200 billion to support the cultivation of hectares of land to boost food production, N75 billion to strengthen the manufacturing sector, one trillion naira for student loans for higher education, release of 42,000 metric tons of grains from strategic reserves, purchase and onward distribution of 60,000 metric tons of rice from the rice millers association.
The committee also argued that the recent salary increase of 25-35 per cent on all consolidated salary structures for federal workers and 90 per cent subsidy on health costs for federal civil servants registered on NHIS are also incentives that are not monetary.
The light rail that runs to the airport from Idu was also listed as a non-monetary incentive. The Lagos State Blue and Red lines also made the list of the non-monetary incentive.
It added: “The meeting agreed that even where major and small businesses are closing down with consequent loss of jobs, the outcome of a new National Minimum Wage should be such that it will not trigger further massive job losses. It further noted that linking the strike to electricity hikes with the NMW determination was not fair to the negotiating parties.”
The Organised Private Sector (OPS) has stated that the demand by labour at this period has the potential to cripple Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and push many other businesses into comatose.
Spokesperson for the OPS at the ongoing negotiation for a new minimum wage, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said the offer of N60,000, which is a 100 per cent increase in the national minimum wage was sacrificial on the part of the OPS.
On the declaration of a strike by labour, Oyerinde noted that while it is within the right of labour to embark on any action it deems fit and necessary to achieve its objectives, organised businesses will also, within extant legislation, do all that is necessary to protect enterprise sustainability and protect jobs.
According to him, it is no secret that organised businesses are currently faced with multidimensional challenges ranging from multiple taxes, levies and fees, recent astronomical power costs, rising interest rates and exchange rates amongst many others.
He said OPS’ position was informed by the need to arrest the ongoing job losses and continuous shut-down of businesses in Nigeria, stressing that it was important to state that jobs can only be guaranteed when businesses are alive and sustainable.
He said the OPS had approached the minimum wage negotiation hoping that current economic realities as it concerns the need to protect jobs and ensure sustained growth would play a paramount role, “however, this was not the case.”
He added that the committee was set up to negotiate a new national minimum wage and not a living wage.
“Neither was it inaugurated to adjust salaries. The minimum wage is the wage that no employer should pay below, either in the private or public sector,” Oyerinde said.
He said while it was important to note that socio-economic conditions over the years have rendered the N30,000 minimum wage inadequate, the same conditions have incapacitated many businesses, fatally affecting their sustainability and ability to pay.
