Organised Labour has declared an indefinite nationwide strike from Monday, June 3rd over the failure of the federal government to conclude negotiations on a new national minimum wage and reverse the hike in the electricity tariff.
President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo announced the strike at a joint news conference in Abuja today Friday.
Making the disclosure at the Labour House, Abuja, they said the strike would start midnight of Sunday, June 2, 2024.
He said the strike arose from the failure of the government to conclude negotiations on a new national minimum wage and reverse the hike in the electricity tariff.
At the briefing, leaders of NLC and TUC pleaded with Nigerians to bear with them, saying, “Apologies for inconveniences but commitment to pursue the cause to its conclusion.”
According to the labour leaders, the decision follows the expiration of an earlier request to the Federal Government to conclude all negotiations for a new minimum wage before the end of May.
“In light of this persistent inaction, we, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), hereby issue a notice of commencement of an indefinite nationwide strike to the Federal Government,” Osifo said.
“We reiterate that since the National Minimum Wage negotiation exercise has not been concluded and the agreed wage passed into law; the hike in electricity tariff has not been reversed and the categorization of consumers into Bands has not stopped as demanded; Nigerian workers are compelled by these failures to embark on an indefinite nationwide industrial action beginning on Monday, the 3rd of June, 2024 to press home our demands.”
The organised labour had once pulled out of the negotiation and rejected two Federal Government offers, the latest being N60,000. They are insisting on N497,000 as minimum wage.
Since the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira, the cost of living in Nigeria has reached new highs, heightening calls for a new minimum wage.
