The Nigeria Labour Congress has asked state councils of the union to prepare for an indefinite strike if the Federal Government fails to accept its demands on the consequential adjustment of salaries as a result of the new minimum wage by October 16, 2019.
NLC’s position was contained in a letter signed by its General Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Ugboaja and made available to reporters in Abuja on Sunday.
In a move to douse tension, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has called a meeting with labour and the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council tomorrow.
After the first phase of negotiations collapsed due to percentage differences between the two parties, the Federal Government negotiating team and the JNPNC, which is representing labour unions in the negotiation for the total implementation of the new minimum wage, will meet again on Tuesday, October 15, 2019.
Labour is demanding 29 per cent salary increase for officers on salary level 07 to 14 and 24 per cent adjustment for officers on salary grade level 15 to 17 while the FG had presented a proposal of 11 per cent salary increase for officers on grade level 07 to 14 and 6.5 per cent adjustment for workers of grade level 15 to 17.
The letter reads: “You will recall that a joint communiqué was issued by the leadership of the NLC, Trade Union Congress and the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council stating that after two weeks from the date of the said communiqué, industrial harmony could not be guaranteed in the country should an agreement not be reached with the Federal Government on the consequential adjustment of salaries as a result of the new minimum wage of N30, 000.
“You are hereby directed to coordinate preparations with TUC and JPSNC in your state for necessary industrial action should the time expire without an agreement as contained in the communiqué.”
Organised labour also faulted comments by Sen. Ngige, that they misinterpreted minimum wage to mean general salary review.
The Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Alade Lawal, described the minister’s comment as a political gimmicks meant to distract organised labour ahead of this week’s ultimatum.
Labour has given the federal government October 16th to meet its demands or face a nationwide industrial action.
Sen. Ngige, had told members of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association on Thursday that the federal government had yet to commence total implementation of the new minimum wage of N30, 000 because organised labour mistakenly saw consequential adjustment in salary as total salary review.
The ASCSN secretary-general said that organised labour knows what it is demanding from the federal government for workers.
Lawal said that labour had earlier written to the government demanding for general salary review for workers.
The secretary-general said that labour didn’t misunderstand it to mean minimum wage as claimed by the minister during the meeting with NECA.
He said: “From the memo on general salary review which we had earlier submitted, we were asking for N777, 000 for Grade level 17 step one and for Grade level one step one we are asking for seventy something thousand.
“If we are asking for that and we are negotiating for 29 percent and 24 percent is that the same thing? So it shows you that we understand what we are saying.”
He said that the minister’s claim that government’s personnel budget had risen astronomically to N3.08 trillion from N1. 88 trillion between 2016-2020, was not true.
Lawal said: “What he (Ngige) said is not correct. We understand what we are saying and we have told him that. These are distracting strategies. We have passed that stage. Our eyes are on the ball.
“We have passed that stage of misinformation. They should tell us what percentage of personnel cost is really coming from the wages of workers as opposed to political appointees.
“They should do a breakdown and publish it in the newspapers for everybody to see, that is if they are really serious. We know their gimmicks and antics and we will not go by that one. We have passed that stage.”
Asked how far labour has gone with its mobilization for a nationwide strike, he said: “We are mobilizing. It is not everything you discuss. These are strategies. You don’t reveal your strategies.
“They should let us test it and see what is going to happen.”
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