Labour will meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on March 31 to push for his assent to the Minimum Wage Bill passed by the National Assembly (NASS) earlier this month.
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Abdulwaheed Omar, threatened on Thursday that workers will be called out on strike if Jonathan continues to adopt delay tactics.
The NLC had on Tuesday given him an ultimatum of six days to assent to the Bill which stipulates a minimum N18,000 wage per month for any employee in any establishment, big or small, private or public.
Omar told Daily Independent in an interview that the NLC National Executive Council (NEC) has summoned its Central Working Committee (CWC) for a meeting on March 28 in Abuja to deliberate on the next line of action to be taken, if Jonathan refuses to budge.
He reiterated Labour’s decision at its last delegates’ conference that workers will boycott and disrupt the elections unless the Bill is signed into law.
Omar said some Governors are opposed to the Bill, even as Jonathan had “personally written to the leadership of the (NASS) to hurry up the passage of the bill and forward it to him for assent.
“Now that the NASS has completed its work, workers have no choice than to go to the street if Jonathan refuses to assent the Bill into law.”
Omar denied media reports that the NLC is in crisis, saying: “The NLC delegates’ conference held in Abuja from March 1 to 3, 2011 was one of the most successful delegates’ conferences around the world.
“It was crisis and rancour free. The election was won and lost like any other election.”
He recalled that the NLC resolved through the NEC and CWC before the conference that all delegates must cast their votes in line with the guidelines provided by the Election Committee.
“I was surprised to read in the newspapers the claims made by some of our members, because even the head of the committee which conducted the election has turned around to criticise it.
“They would have waited for more explanation at the CWC meetings fixed for Monday next week on any grey areas they do not understand rather than going to the pages of newspapers to seek redress.
“The NLC is not a political party and there cannot be opposition within Labour Centre when workers’ welfare should be at the centre stage.”
Last week, some NLC affiliates – NASU, NAATS, NUBIFIE, NUJ, NUPTE, RATTAWU, ISSAN, and the Hotels Union – alleged in Lagos that intrigues and illegalities transpired in the NLC before, during, and after the conference.
They gave an ultimatum of two weeks to the NLC to reverse its decision on the indefinite leave it asked the General Secretary to proceed on, among other constitutional issues.
They threatened legal action to ensure sanity is restored to the NLC.
Success Leke, President of the Hotels Union, who spoke on behalf of the others, cited irregularities that resulted in injustice at the conference.
He alleged that some portions of the amended NLC constitution are against the long term interest of the labour movement because they disfranchise some members.
Leke said: “At its inaugural meeting on March 11, 2011, the NEC of the NLC asked the NLC General Secretary to proceed on his accumulated annual leave.
“The reason given was that he was so tired as a result of the burden of the office and in order for him not to die, he should take his accumulated leave without stating clearly when the leave will end.
“The concluding part of the memo pointed to the fact that the NEC wants to dispense with the General Secretary.”
Also on Thursday, the NLC urged Abuja to stop political violence in the country or else workers will stay away from work in any state where there is violence during the elections starting next Saturday.
Omar told journalists at the delegates’ conference of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Ibadan that the concern of the NLC over mayhem and the intolerance of some Governors would be the basis for the directive.
“The essence of directing workers in politically violent states to stay away from their duty posts is to guard them from being caught in the cross-fire of blood letting and violence.”
He said the violence in the electioneering is disturbing, arguing that any politician sure of himself will not incite supporters.
On the planned strike over the minimum wage, Omar said essential duty workers would not be allowed to work either as INEC ad hoc staff, tanker drivers or take part in other activities involving the elections.
The NLC had resolved on March 2 that “except the immediate implementation of the N18,000 national minimum wage takes off at the end of March 2011, the Federal Government should forget the April 2011 general elections.”
It said the government passing the buck of the non payment to the NASS was part of the delay tactics not to reward workers.
It resolved that all processes needed for bringing about the new minimum wage legislation must be completed and payment started by the end of March, “If not, workers in the country would rise against the 2011 elections and the Congress will not be in a position to guarantee industrial peace in the country.”
Omar disclosed that the NLC has re-invigorated its anti-casualisation and unionisation committee to launch the onslaught on recalcitrant employers that do not recognise the importance of decent work policy.
Another NLC official, who did not want his name in print, said the country needs a political change that will make life better for all Nigerians, lamenting that “while Senators and House of Representatives members earn about N1.7 million monthly, workers beg for N18,000 minimum wage.”
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, had enthused during the passage of the Bill that the new wage would alleviate the suffering of workers.
“We have responded appropriately to the yearnings of our workers whom we are representing in this Chamber. Today is a happy day because we have shown that we are conscious of the suffering of our people.
“This country is rich enough to cater for everybody if we avoid the avarice of some few people.”
Deputy Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, said workers deserve more than N18,000, and argued that wage increase should correspond with the standard of living.
Section 2 (1) of the National Minimum Wage Bill says: “As from the commencement of this Act, it shall be the duty of every employer to pay a wage not less than the national minimum wage of N18,000 per month to every worker under his establishment.”
However, Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki, disclosed on March 1 that his landlocked, agrarian state will have trouble paying the minimum wage.
“We are all reading the newspapers,” he told reporters in Lagos, and “I am aware that the law has been passed. But I know that there are one or two things that we have talked about in terms of revenue allocation review as well as Constitution amendment review.
“I am worried just as you are, so I think that very soon there will be a forum that will allow us look at the implementation. But there is no doubt about it except we want to play politics with it.”
Saraki explained that other states will also face challenges in paying the minimum wage not because they do not want to do so, “Not because they don’t believe that workers should have it, but because of the economic realities that we are facing.”
Even with that, the House of Representatives on March 2, imposed a fine of N20,000 on anyone who fails to pay the minimum wage.
An amended Bill it passed makes it mandatory for all employers of labour in Nigeria to pay a wage not less than N18,000 per month to any worker.
Deputy Speaker Usman Nafada presided over the consideration of the report submitted by Joint Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity and Finance.
The House lawmakers unanimously adopted the report and resolved to immediately transmit the Bill to Jonathan for assent.
The Bill says an employer who fails to pay the minimum wage, “Is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N20, 000 and in the case of continuing offence to a fine not exceeding N1,000 for each day during which the offence continues.”
Mar252011