Labour Rejects N62,000 or N100,000 “Starvation Wage”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has never considered N100,000 as the minimum wage for workers in the country, let alone the ₦62,000 offered by the government.

In a conversation with Channels TV on Monday, June 10, the Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Cheis Onyeka, said the Labour unions will not contemplate any ”starvation wage”.

“We have never considered accepting N62,000 or any other wage that we know is below what we know is able to take Nigerian workers home. We will not negotiate a starvation wage.

“We have never contemplated N100,000 let alone of N62,000. We are still at N250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation. We are not just driven by frivolities but the realities of the marketplace; realities of things we buy every day: a bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that.”

Onyeka stated that the one-week grace period granted to the Federal Government on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, would expire at midnight on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

He stated that if the Federal Government and National Assembly fail to act on workers’ requests by tomorrow, Tuesday, June 11, the organs of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) will meet to decide whether to resume the countrywide industrial action that was lifted last week.

“The Federal Government and the National Assembly have the call now. It is not our call. Our demand is there for them (the government) to look at and send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, and for the National Assembly to look at what we have demanded, the various facts of the law, and then come up with a National Minimum Act that meets our demands.

“If that does not meet our demand, we have given the Federal Government a one-week notice to look at the issues and that one week expires tomorrow (Tuesday). If after tomorrow, we have not seen any tangible response from the government, the organs of the Organised Labour will meet to decide on what next.”

When asked what Labour’s decision would be if the government insisted on ₦62,000, he responded.

“It was clear what we said. We said we are relaxing a nationwide indefinite strike. It’s like putting a pause on it. So, if you put a pause on something and that organs that govern us as trade unions decide that we should remove that pause, it means that we go back to what was in existence before.”

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli