CDWR urges NLC/TUC to mobilise for general strike on implementation of N70,000 minimum wage

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights (CDWR) has lamented the inability of state chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress to prosecute a strike action in 16 states and the FCT for failing to implement the N70,000 minimum wage.

 

NLC had declared strike action in states that have failed to implement the N70,000 minimum wage, beginning from December 1. But on the day of the strike actions, many of the state unions pulled out, citing various excuses.

 

 

A statement by Comrade Chinedu Bosah, National Publicity Secretary of CDWR urged the national leadership of the NLC and TUC to aggregate the struggles for the implementation of the national minimum wage by issuing a 48-hour warning for general strike.

 

The statement reads in full:  

 

“A strike action was declared and scheduled to commence on December 1, 2024, in states where the N70,000 minimum wage has not been implemented. This was in line with the resolution of the Central Working Committee (CWC) and National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) held on November 8, 2024, in Port Harcourt, River State.

 

 

 

“According to the NLC national leadership, as of November 30, 2024, 16 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had not implemented the minimum wage. The following states are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Zamfara, Cross River, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Oyo, Yobe, Sokoto, Enugu, Katsina states, and the FCT Abuja. The national leaders of the NLC activated the resolution of NEC meeting by declaring strike actions in the  affected states and FCT. Unfortunately, most of the NLC leadership in the defaulting states have pulled out of the strike actions, interestingly, these state NLC leaders are also members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and participated in the NEC meeting where the decision to embark on a strike was reached.

 

“According to Punch and Guardian reports published on December 1 and 2, 2024 respectively, some of the NLC state leadership in the defaulting states pulled out of the planned strike actions citing different excuses. Only Ebonyi, Kaduna, Nasarawa and FCT NLC leaders embarked on the strike. The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) sees the reasons for pulling out of the strike actions as untenable.

 

“For instance,  Imo NLC state leaders said that the Imo state governor has shown commitment to pay N70,000 minimum wage and will not join the strike action; Enugu state government has declared N80,000 but has not agreed on the consequential adjustments; Ebonyi and Ekiti governments have made public declaration to implement N70,000 minimum wage but no commitment on when to pay and no agreement on consequential adjustments; Sokoto NLC leaders said the state governor will begin the implementation in January 2025 and would not participate in the strike; Oyo and Akwa Ibom NLC leaders said negotiations are ongoing and would not join the strike; Katsina state NLC Chairman, Hussaini Danduna said that workers in the state would not join the strike because an agreement had been signed on November 30, 2024, but did not state what the agreement entails. Katsina and Nasarawa state governments were forced to reach an agreement at the eleventh hour before the commencement of the strike actions but implementations were deferred to December 2024. Despite the weakness in the trade union movement, the declaration of the strike achieved some gains, some of the defaulting state governments were forced to hurriedly reach an agreement with Labour.

 

“While most of the defaulting governors have declared some form of commitment in a rush, Ebonyi and Kaduna state governors have refused to enter into negotiations for consequential adjustments. Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, has threatened to sack any worker who joins the strike while Kaduna Governor, Uba Sani, ridiculously claimed compliance with the Minimum Wage Law having paid N72,000 gross salary to the lowest paid civil servant. Kaduna and Ebonyi State governments are not prepared to negotiate with labour leaders and agree on consequential adjustments for workers. Some state governments that made public declarations to implement the N70,000 minimum wage may renege. For instance, Bayelsa State government has postponed the implementation of the N80,000 minimum wage to December 2024 due to so-called “flaws in the computation of the consequential adjustments”; according to the Daily Trust report of December 2, 2024, Gombe State government is currently implementing the N71,451 minimum wage lopsidedly as some local government workers still earn as low as N31,000. It is the reason the national leaders of NLC should take charge of the minimum wage struggle.

 

 

 

“It is noteworthy to state that the usual relationship between the state governors and the NLC/TUC leaders in most states is, unfortunately, a master-servant relationship and it is, for this reason, it is difficult for the NLC leaders at state level to prosecute strike actions or any serious struggle in defence of workers’ rights or interests. Any strike action declared but which does not include mass mobilization and participation of the rank and file would most likely suffer a setback or betrayal. It is important that a strike action committee comprising elected rank and file workers should be set up and mass sensitization carried out prelude to strike actions.

 

“At the same time Labour leaders must extend the struggle for the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage to the private sector. This struggle should include the unionization of workers and the regularization of millions of casual workers who usually do not benefit from minimum wage agreements. A struggle of this magnitude will entail the picketing of many private companies that casualize workers and subject Nigerian workers to unfair and indecent work practices.

 

“Even if N70,000 Minimum Wage is implemented across the board, the wage and income of Nigerian workers continue to suffer depreciation due to the implementation of anti-poor policies such as astronomical hike in prices of petroleum products and electricity tariff, increasing cost of food and basic commodities, hike in school fees, hike in house rent etc. Hence, there is a need for labour leaders to lead sustained mass struggles against all anti-poor/labour policies.

 

“To aggregate this struggle in the private and public sectors, a 48-hour warning general strike should be declared. CDWR calls on NLC and TUC leaders to mobilize for a 48-hour general strike, as the next step, to enforce the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage and to resist all anti-people policies with a clear list of demands. The CDWR will do what it can to work jointly with  both organised and unorganised workers, along with groups committed to workers’ struggle, to build a movement to enforce these demands.”