Minimum Wage: NLC May Resume Strike January
Threatens to stop Union Bank from operating || There are indications that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) may resume their suspended strike action following the delay in the implementation of N18,000 national minimum wage which was adopted by the National Council of State late last year.
Briefing Labour correspondents after their Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting, NLC president, Comrade Abdulwaheed Ibrahim Omar said the three organs of the congress, National Administrative Council (NAC), the Central Working Committee (CWC) and the National Executive Council (NEC) would reconvene by the end of January, 2011 to access the level of progress made by the National Assembly on the new wage bill before them.
Omar warned that the congress would be compelled to resume its suspended strike if the organs meet and discover the National Assembly did not pass the new national minimum wage into law.
He said the two Labour centres suspended the three-day warning in December, 2010 because of President Goodluck Jonathan's intervention, as well as principal officers of the National Assembly who gave the assurance that the matter would be given accelerated passage when brought before them.
Omar said that congress expected the federal government to have sent the bill to the National Assembly immediately after the meeting of the National Council of State on November 25, 2010 which endorsed the N18,000 new national minimum wage.
He said it is sad that government did not do anything on the matter since December till last Wednesday, January 12, 2011 when the minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu call for a meeting to brief the organised Labour on the minimum wage.
The NLC boss lamented that Nigerian workers accepted the N18,000 minimum wage as a sacrifice and their desire for industrial peace, because the money is a starvation wage in the context of today's economic realities.
Meanwhile, NLC also gave the management of Union Bank PLC a seven-day ultimatum to withdraw a purported letter sent to the Congress, notifying them that the bank will not give recognition to the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution (ASSBIFI) again.
The congress said if the bank failed to withdraw the letter at the expiration of the ultimatum given, it would be left with no other option than to stop the bank from operating in Nigeria.