- For Now, We Don’t Have Power To Call Off The Strike-Labour
- Akpabio, Abbas, Akume’s Last Minute Efforts To Avert Strike Fail
- Strike Illegal, Premature Says AGF As Finance Minister Describes Labour’s Demand As Unaffordable
A last minute effort by the leadership of the National Assembly and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to avert a nationwide industrial action has failed.
The Matrix gathered that organized labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) confirmed on Sunday, June 2, that their planned indefinite strike over the new minimum wage will proceed as scheduled.
The organized labour said its decision stands despite last-minute efforts by the National Assembly leadership to prevent a potential economic shutdown by the unions.
Late on Sunday, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume met with the leadership of organized labour in an effort to avert the strike.
Rising from the meeting which lasted for more than four hours, organized labour disclosed that the industrial action will commence on Monday, June 3rd, 2024 as planned.
“Strike Action Goes on, A Living wage is Possible” a terse message posted on the X platform of the NLC stated.
Confirming this, Festus Osifo the President of the TUC disclosed after the meeting that the strike will continue as planned.
“For now, we don’t have the power to call off the strike, tomorrow (Monday) morning, the strike will kick off as we take their (NASS) plea asking us to call off the strike to our various organs,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has faulted the June 3, 2024 notice of industrial action issued by the Organised Labour.
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In a letter dated June 1, 2024, the AGF described the strike notice by the labour unions as “premature, ineffectual and illegal”.
The AGF addressed the letter to the NLC President Joe Ajaero and his TUC counterpart Festus Osifo.
He urged Labour to return to the negotiation table, saying that dialogue was a more progressive path to take than industrial action.
Fagbemi drew the attention of the aggrieved unions to Sections 41(1) and 42(1) of the Trade Disputes Act 2004 (As amended) which required the NLC and the TUC to issue mandatory strike notices of a minimum of 15 days.
The AGF also recalled an interim injunctive order granted on June 5, 2023 by an Abuja court which restrained the NLC and the TUC from embarking on any industrial action. “This order has neither been stayed or set-aside, therefore it remains binding on the labour unions,” he said.
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“Consequent on the foregoing, the call to industrial action is premature, ineffectual and illegal. The proposed strike action is also at variance with the order of the National Industrial Court and the ongoing mediatory settlement efforts over the issues connected with the subject matter of the order.
In a related development, Wale Edun, Minister Of Finance And Coordinating Minister Of The Economy has disclosed that the minimum wage demanded by the labour unions is unaffordable across the board.
The minister spoke on Sunday during a Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme where he featured as a guest.
Edun said the labour union has to consider the affordability of the proposed minimum wage for states and local governments as well as the private sector.
He said by law, the government is mandated to set a new wage scale every five years.
According to the minister, it is noteworthy that “it is a minimum wage, it is not a wage”.
“You are not setting a wage for federal government workers, for example. You’re setting a minimum figure that states, local governments, private sector, small businesses must pay, to the extent that they have the requisite number of workers,” Edun said.
“There can still be small scale businesses; they would have to pay that and it is a fixed figure, not a scale.
READ ALSO: New Minimum Wage: Labour Talks Tough
“So, there are elements of how we have set the minimum wage in the past, particularly what they call the consequential adjustments, which, given what labour is asking for today, would be unaffordable across the board.”
The minister said focus must be placed on the fact that once the minimum wage is enshrined in law, “everybody that falls into the category of having to pay the minimum wage must pay it”.
“And so therefore, the affordability has to be taken into account. And also, we probably have to also take into account the fact that there are other ways of buffeting and supporting the cost of living of workers, other than that particular wage scale,” Edun said.
Edun said with goodwill from all sides, the country would reach a conclusion that is beneficial to Nigerians and the economy.
