Skip to main content

May Day: Workers demand for minimum wage increase legitimate



The Nigeria Labour Congress has defended the demand by workers for the increase of the minimum wage, saying it is modest and backed by law.

NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, said this in an interview with Channels TV to mark the May Day celebrations.


He said, “By law and practice, and through a collective bargaining process, government, employers of labour and organised labour as represented by TUC and NLC, have agreed that in every five years, we need to review the minimum wage because of a lot of factors – the cost of living, inflation and other factors that need to be considered.

“Therefore, it is due both by law and in practice. And it is a legitimate demand.”

Wabba explained that it was because the demand was legitimate that all parties have not rejected it or called it frivolous.

“And that was why the tripartite team was constituted and now the negotiating team will be constituted,” he added.

The NLC president explained further that the demand was meant to take into consideration the impact of inflation on the current minimum wage.

He said, “In fact, we are being very modest; we are trying to bring back the value of N18,000. At the time we signed the N18,000 minimum wage, which was (through) a tripartite process, the value was about $110.


“Today, what is the value of N18,000? It’s less than $40. This is the reality – inflation has actually taken (away) the impact and import of the increase.

“What we are merely doing, which I think is very modest and needs to be commended, is the fact that we are trying to bring back the value of N18,000. This is realistic.”

Wabba also faulted concerns about the ability of government to pay the minimum wage, stressing that the political elites did not complain about the ability to pay when they increased their salaries.

“Don’t forget, when we demanded N18,000, our political elites increased their salaries and earnings, across board – from councilor to the highest office in the land – by over 800 per cent. Nobody is talking about their ability to pay, they are being paid now,” he said.

He added that claims that organised labour was demanding that salaries across board should be equal was not accurate.

“We are saying that the minimum below which no employer of labour – both government and private – should pay should be the minimum wage. So, let us not confuse the issue of the minimum wage with the entire package,” the NLC president said.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Upcoming Yoruba actress, Feyi Hassan releases sexy birthday pictures

Upcoming is a bit harsh to describe, pretty Yoruba actress, Feyisara Hassan, because already she has produced five films of her own, while featuring in plenty more. Feyi, who became a producer as a teenager added another year on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 and to celebrate the special day she released some sexy pictures to show another side of her person. Vulnerably beautiful, delicate and yet provocative, Feyi, slays minds in this shoot, without having to go over the edge. Happy birthday girl.

Wike moves to ban 5,000 unapproved schools in Rivers

The Rivers State government says it has concluded plans to ban all unapproved schools operating in the state with effect from September this year. State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Kaniye Ebeku, disclosed this when he led members of the Rivers state House of Assembly Committee on Education on an inspection of ongoing rehabilitation work at Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokwuta in company of officials of the state Ministry of Education. Prof. Ebeku said about five thousand illegal private schools are operating in the state. He said that publications will be done in both National and local papers in the coming days with the full names of the affected schools. According to Ebeku, “We found that there are so many unapproved quacks schools operating in the state and this is not acceptable for many reasons. They deliver poor quality education and because they are operating underground they are not paying required taxes as legitimate approved organizations. “We would not want ...

Stop exploiting Buhari’s ill health, northern group tells Yoruba leaders

Northern Patriotic Assembly (NPA) has warned politicians in the country to stop exploiting President Muhammadu Buhari’s ill health situation for political and personal gains . In a statement issued in Kaduna Wednesday the group said such actions by politicians was “immoral and despicable”. The statement signed by its President, Idakwo Jibrin and Secretary General, Alhaji Adamu Wakil pointedly accused some Yoruba Leaders of trying create crisis in the country through their utterances. According to the group recent remarks on the President’s health credited to Chief Bisi Akande and Femi Falana were part of a larger plot to plunge the country into crisis to the benefit of the Yorubas. “Even more unnerving is situation whereby people we once held in high esteem as elders, leaders and professionals decided to descend into the mud, using President Buhari’s health as their new object of obsession. “They have fanatically tried to impose this obsession of theirs on other Nigerians in a desper...