THE labour unions in the country had assured all workers that they would force the Federal Government to pay the N18,000 minimum wage to all workers by all means possible. The presidency is jittery over the renewed threats by the organised labour, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to declare a nationwide strike over the Federal Government refusal to obey the agreement signed last week on the implementation and payment of the N18, 000 national minimum wage.

The presidency has, therefore, summoned the leadership of NLC and TUC to an emergency meeting to be held today at the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) office.

Speaking with Saturday Tribune on Friday, the acting General Secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Owei Lakemfa said the union was pained that the Federal Government reneged on its earlier promises and later tried to split the body of workers by saying it would not pay non-civil servants the minimum wage.

“You cannot discriminate against workers. The work of a civil servants is not more important than the work of a non-civil servants or that of any other person. We are all citizens of the same country. We will not allow the selective application of the minimum wage,” he stated.

Lakemfa also said the labour union could no longer trust the government of the day because it had betrayed the trust of workers and had not shown integrity.

see the way this man GEJ has betrayed everybody this early morning        God have mercy

“This government does not believe in integrity. We are quite pained we can no longer trust this government.”

“You cannot enter into an agreement and then go back on it. This should not be a government by ‘deceit,” he said.

[quote]

Even if the minimum wage is implemented how many of them can afford 2 send 6 children 2 school buy enough provisions 4 them stay in descent accomodation just few of them that can syphoon money from other sources because they need 2 fuel their generator because of lack of power, visit d panel beatter often due 2 bad road, spend huge amount of money 2 fuel there car monthly due to high cost of fuel, part of this money stil goes kerosine and gas and so on and so on

SO NLC AND TUC FIGHT 4 THE RIGHT COURSE

minimum wage ! minimum wage !! minimum wage !!! hmmmmm anyway when compared with what d national assembly, state house of assembly and numerous P.A & SPECILA ADVICERS earn the N18,000 is stil a peanut 4 workers, but the reality is that we dont need a minimum wage in this country , how do we defined the plight of those that work in private organisations some dont even earn close 2 that amount and nobody fight 4 them they are always at d receiving end of the inflation that follows d collection of such increament.

For example i know of a university graduate in my area that earns as low as N10,000 per month where he works as a teacher in a private school, this category of pepple are far more than the civil service put together now who fight 4 this ones nobody, so what now happens to this one if d increament is implented they now carry the burden of increament in food stuffs,transport fare e.t.c

The NLC AND TUC are fighting 4 unjust course because since i was in primary school in 70's labour has been fighting 4 minimum wage yet there problem persist and wil continue 2 be in the next administration they wil come out again to ask 4 N50,000 minimum wage and that wil not solve d problem.

Labour has never come out 2 fight 4 bad govt policies, power problem,bad roads e.t.c which is d real problem draining their wages i remember in those days my father wil tel me he earns N200 PER MONTH he wil pay rent send 6 of us 2 school and i remember very wel under our bed is carton of peak milk, caton of sardines e.t.c that we take at wil to school and my father does not even complain because he replaces them at wil we dont have a generator because there was no need 4 it so at that age i never saw petrol with my eyes i only hear of it because power was stable out of this N200, my father stil bought a 3 bedroom flat at jaknde estate for N6,000 NAIRA due 2 good govt policy who then borrow them the money ,pay on there behalf and spread their repayment 4 the next twenty years.

Even if the minimum wage is implemented how many of them can afford 2 send 6 children 2 school buy enough provisions 4 them stay in descent accomodation just few of them that can syphoon money from other sources because they need 2 fuel their generator because of lack of power, visit d panel beatter often due 2 bad road, spend huge amount of money 2 fuel there car monthly due to high cost of fuel, part of this money stil goes kerosine and gas and so on and so on

SO NLC AND TUC FIGHT 4 THE RIGHT COURSE

1025:

@slaughter,
i want to bring u back to the fact that 99% of the products we use in nigeria are imported including the almighty toothpick. tell me the relevance of your father's toothpick to the imported goods. how much was school fees when your father was sending 6 of u to school? how much were the senators earning when your father was earning N200? whenever our president decides to increase his salary, his aides and other political officers will be affected so why not the labour?
the issue here is that the world not only nigeria is moving forward and we call that nigeria shld move as well. why will a president sign a wage he knows he will not pay? u have to address this matter from the head which is aso rock. why is that our politicians are making politics the most lucrative business in the country? look at our police, because they are under paid, they have legalized bribe that at the middle of the road, a policeman will stand and be collecting illegal money from road users not caring who is in the next car or who is standing next to be. at worst na sacking. how will a country progress with a corrupt set of security men? a nigerian police man can lie against u or even kill you for N100. the security officer now becomes the threat himself.
where do we go from here? have you been to any office to process documents? every table has its official but illegal price? is that a way forward?
for a worker not to be a slave, u must at least pay him enough to take care of his feeding and accommodation. please tell me any part of this country where such a low salary will take care of same? let us face the truth. is your father still making use of N200 till date? no time has changed.

Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has slammed state governors for foot-dragging on the payment of the N18,00 national minimum wage despite participating in the processes leading to the agreement. Gen. Buhari said the governors’ action was fraudulent.

Speaking through his spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Buhari said “given the state of the elite today, given the state of the economy and given what the market is saying, the 18,000 naira we are talking about, is not a living wage.” By the time you buy a bag of rice from the 18,000 naira today, I don’t know how much that is left.”

Buhari noted that the amount was a take-home pay that could not even take the workers home, adding that “it is part of the contradictions of the present arrangement.”

Buhari said: “You went to negotiations, you agree, you signed an agreement and a law was issued based on the agreement before the elections. Now, after the elections, you start to renege and begin to sing different tunes.”

Speaking further, Buhari said that confirm the impression some people have that a politician is a man who shakes your hand before the election and shakes your confidence after the election.
“There is no basis to agree before the elections, after which the law was signed, and now begin to tell different stories after you have taken what you wanted. That amounts to 419, obtaining under false pretence.

“As it is, we believe that the payment of minimum wage is possible if all the loopholes are blocked.
“The Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) governor did come out to say that look, the National Assembly alone takes 25 percent of overhead in our budget. But when you go deep to what happens in the executive, you will discover that what you are shouting about in the National Assembly, is a tip of the iceberg. It is a small thing compared to what is being done at the executive level.”
“There are serious kinds of frivolous contracts being awarded. We have seen the way our natural resources are being wasted and we have seen the crazy emolument being earned by National Assembly officials.

It is because of the greed of a few that we cannot meet the need of the majority,” Buhari stated.
Buhari also said that the minimum wage cannot be paid as long as public officials, those in government, want to sustain this unjust arrangement of a criminal disparage between what those who are in government are earning, and what the workers and other segments of the society benefit from the system.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/aug/01/national-01-08-2011-01.html