The NLC also criticised the federal government for allowing its workers to “go hungry during this Yuletide season”.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has pledged to ensure that all workers get living wage in 2024 by ensuring that the national minimum wage is implemented nationwide.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, stated this in his End of Year Message to Nigerians.
He said 2023 was undoubtedly a test of the collective strength and resilience of workers.
“2023 is also a year where we have seen the increasing use of violence and unrivaled propaganda as tools of engagement in the nation’s industrial relations sphere,” Mr Ajaero said.
“The boundary between the tools used in electioneering and in actual governance seems to have been ruptured as the same mindless violence and crudity witnessed during the last election cycle is now being used by those in government as a weapon in managing workplace relations in Nigeria. We have witnessed government’s interference in the internal affairs of trade unions all in a bid to capture the levers of power in these unions and use them to seek to hold the civic space in our nation hostage and thwart citizens efforts at holding the government accountable.
“It is in furtherance of these efforts by the government that the November 1st bestial abduction and brutalization of the President of Congress; comrade Joe Ajaero and others by the Government and the Police in Owerri Imo state happened. NLC is surprised if there is an uncanny link between the attack on the President of the Congress and the stoppage of the implementation of the Wage Award as agreed in the October, 2nd MOU between the federal government and Organised Labour. Such coincidence is ominous and raises a lot of questions in our hearts further justifying strongly our belief that the conspiracies to mete out violence against trade union leaders including the President of Congress in Owerri goes to the very top.”
The NLC said it was committed to providing the necessary leadership as in the new year to ensure that they responsibly hold the government accountable and nudge it towards working for the benefit of the majority.
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The NLC also criticised the federal government for allowing its workers to “go hungry during this Yuletide season by denying them the benefit of their hard-earned December, 2023 salary.”
Ajaero said, “To this end, NLC will be committed in 2024 towards ensuring that a living wage becomes possible for all Nigerian workers by working with others to secure a National Minimum Wage that approximates to the dictates of the various parameters that make incomes humane and grants access to basic necessities of life for the average worker.
“We will recommit to building workplaces that guarantees the rights and privileges of workers while building the basis for continuous wealth creation for our nation. All actions that will therefore ensure that Decent work gaps are reduced to their barest minimum will be encouraged. We will therefore strengthen our collaboration with the federal ministry of Labour, NECA and the TUC using the tripartite process to regulate the Industrial Relations space and ensure that the reviewed labour administration laws are forwarded to the National Assembly for passage into Law.
“From every indication, 2024 will be an interesting year. Interesting because it will witness a period where all that has been taken away from workers will be restored. Any Private sector employer or Agency of Government that is therefore owing any Nigerian worker anywhere should be ready to pay up in 2024.”
The NLC pledged to work with civil society partners, other willing partners and engage government to ensure that the agreement it reached with the union in their last negotiations especially the October 2, 2023 agreement are implemented.