Olayiwola Matthew
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has issued a directive to its members to embark on indefinite strike in all the states where the new minimum wage is yet to be implemented.
NLC made this known in a communique issued after its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting, describing the refusal to implement the new minimum wage as frustrating.
It said workers in states where the new minimum wage is yet to be implemented should embark on indefinite strike at the end of November.
The communique reads in part: “This betrayal by certain governors and government officials across the country flies in the face of both legality and morality, as workers continue to be denied their rightful wages amidst rising economic hardship.”
It reads further: “The NEC therefore resolves to set up a National Minimum Wage Implementation Committee that will among others commence a nationwide assessment, mobilization and sensitization campaign, educating workers and citizens on the need to resist this assault on their dignity and rights.”
“To this end, all state Councils where the National Minimum Wage has not been fully implemented by the last day of November, 2024 have been directed to proceed on strike beginning from the 1st day of December, 2024,” the statement reads.
“Nigerian workers demand justice, and justice they shall have,” NLC said.
The NLC also complained about the hardship resulting from the harsh economic situation in the country.
“Access to energy has become a mirage while workers become increasingly poorer even as they work longer hours to meet their other basic needs. As a result, nutritional diseases like Kwashiorkor and Marasmus have resurfaced in Nigeria,” it said.
The communique reads further: “The NLC demands immediate, concrete interventions from the Federal Government, not token measures, to relieve this suffering.
“We call for the implementation of comprehensive social protection policies that shield Nigerians from poverty, provide affordable healthcare, and ensure a wage that reflects the true cost of living.
“To this end, we call for a wage review across the nation including a review of all the policies that have rather emasculated Nigerian people.”