The organised labour on Friday
said it had started mobilisation of members ahead of the Jan. 8 strike over
payment of the agreed N30,000 New Minimum Wage.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
correspondent, who visited some of the labour unions in Lagos, gathered that
workers had been informed on the strategic roles to play while awaiting further
instructions.
NAN reports that the three labour
centres, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria
(TUC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), had met on Dec. 20, 2018.
The organised labour gave the
Federal Government on or before Dec. 31 to submit the Tripartite Committee
Report on the N30,000 minimum wage to the National Assembly or face strike.
Meanwhile, the federal government is
currently meeting with some of the labour leaders to forestall the
planned strike.
Mr Chris Onyeka, Deputy General
Secretary, ULC, said that labour had started reaching out to their allies and
those in the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
Onyeka said that though not all
members of the organised labour would be at Friday’s meeting with the
government, the mobilisation would still continue.
He said that the plan was to seek
audience with all relevant CSOs for their support and effective participation
in the sensitisation strike scheduled for Jan. 8.
Mr John Johnson-Isok, an Iron and
Steel union member, said that various executive members of the union were
discussing modalities to make the strike effective, should the government
failed to accede to their demand.
“Our demand is clear; transmit
the N30,000 recommended by the National Minimum Wage Committee to the National
Assembly for action, and we will wait for the lawmakers to take their
decision,’’ Johnson-Isok said.
NAN further gathered that the
planned strike may be all-encompassing, as the National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS), whose undergraduate members from the public universities, had
been at home, may mobilise and join the action.
Mr Smith Olaitan, a student union
leader, said that the ongoing strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) had paralysed academic activities in the universities.
However, some workers, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, said that the planned strike at the beginning of the
year, would unleash hard times on Nigerians, unless averted.
The workers said that petroleum
products, foodstuffs, medical and transportation services, including aviation
and other essentials may be in short supply.
NAN reports that labour suspended
its national strike on the minimum wage about two months ago to enable the
government to take a decisive action on it.
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