NLC stages protest over minimum wage bill

The labour union called the strike action to protest the legislature’s bill to remove its power from negotiating minimum wages.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has insisted on staging a nationwide mass protest over the move by the National Assembly to remove the minimum wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, Vanguard newspaper reports.

The labour union will hold the protest at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, at the Unity Fountain and the National Assembly Complex.

The House of Representatives during a plenary last week debated a bill sponsored by Garba Muhammed, representing Kano central,  proposing the movement of the current wage structure from exclusive to the concurrent list.

If the proposal passes through, future negotiations for minimum wage would be decentralised to states, effectively whittling the power of the Nigeria Labour Congress to represent workers nationally.

Members of the labour union have proposed a strike and protest as a warning for the legislature’s to resist passing the bill to remove its power from negotiating minimum wages. 

The labour union minimum wage was signed into law by President Buhari after the union went on industrial action in 2018, it was then set to N30,000  which 18 states in the country is yet to adopt.

The workers union says it disagrees with the change because it would make millions of workers vulnerable to the whims and caprices of the ruling class.

As at the time this report was filed, the President of National Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him by Peoples Gazette.

SOURCE: PEOPLES GAZETTE