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Tag: Minimum wage

  • Nasarawa NLC rejects partial implementation of Minimum wage, issues 21 days strike warning

    Nasarawa NLC rejects partial implementation of Minimum wage, issues 21 days strike warning

    By Abel Leonard, Lafia

    The Nasarawa State Chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the partial implementation of N30, 000 minimum wage in the state.

    Comrade Yusuf Iya, Chairman of NLC in the state stated this in an interview with the Sun News, Tuesday in Lafia saying the union has observed that the government only want to implement minimum wage for workers in grade level 1-6 without the corresponding consequential adjustments for other grade levels.

    “Let me make it categorically clear that the implementation made by the Nasarawa state Government negates the principles and procedures of minimum wage implementation.

    “Implementation of minimum wage required that there must be a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) duly signed by both parties or employers and employees and a template must be adopted for reference purpose.

    “A copy of the agreement must be domiciled at the office of the Hon Minister of Labour and Employment, but non of the requirements has been fulfilled in Nasarawa State,” the NLC boss in the state added.

    Iya presume that the Nasarawa State Government acted as a result of the fear of the threat by the Minister of Labour to drag any state yet to implement the new national minimum wage to court.

    The NLC Chairman also said that even in the said implementation, Local Government workers in grade level 1-6 were sidelined.

    He added that it also means that anybody who is a graduate entering the service of the state from grade level seven and above cannot benefit from the minimum wage.

    He further emphasised that the said implementation was just mirage because the outstanding promotions is over ten years which has not implemented, non of the beneficiary would still be in the level he or she is now.

    Still analysing the implementation, he said only a total of 3,300 workers are to benefit out of a total of 16,000 workers which the union had rejected.

    The NLC Chairman said already the union had issued a 21-day notice of strike and subsequently issued a seven day notice after the first one expired in line with labour laws.

    He explained that if the government fail to do the needful after the expiration of the seven day notice on Wednesday June 8, the union would embark on an indefinite strike action.

    He further explained that the Traditional Council of Chiefs had intervened and appealed that the union should give them up till Thursday June 10 to interface with the governor with a view of addressing it.

    He said thought the ultimatum given to the government would elapse on Thursday, the union would give grace to enable the traditional rulers speak to the governor.

    Meanwhile, the Sun News recalls that Mr Zakka Yakubu, Accountant General of Nasarawa State had on Thursday June 3, 2021 announced implementation of minimum wage for workers in grade level 1-6.

  • Nasarawa begins implementation of new national minimum wage

    Nasarawa begins implementation of new national minimum wage

    By Abel Leonard, Lafia

    Nasarawa State government, has commenced the payment of the N30, 000. 00 new national minimum wage, but so far, with only civil servants from level 1-6 benefitting.

    State Accountant General, Mr. Zakka Yakubu, disclosed this on Friday, saying the implementation has commenced in June, only for civil servants who are on grade level six downward.

    Mr. Yakubu explained that negotiation is ongoing regarding civil servants from grade level 7 and above.

    The AG explained further that the implementation of the new national minimum wage, came after series of meetings by the committee set up by government to look into the matter, following which it was generally agreed for the commencement of the new salary structure for civil servants on level 1-6, while negotiation continues for those from level 7 and above.

    Recall that, sometime last year, Nasarawa State governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, while playing to the national leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Women Commission, at the Government House, expressed willingness of his administration to implement the new national minimum wage for civil servants from grade level six downwards

  • Minimum Wage: Pensioners To Get Increased Pay From May – FG

    Minimum Wage: Pensioners To Get Increased Pay From May – FG

    The Federal Government has announced plans to commence increased payment of pension to retirees to reflect the new minimum wage.

    This follows the presidential approval for the implementation of the consequential adjustment to the pension benefits occasioned by the new minimum wage of 2019.

    The payment of the new pension to retirees will commence from May, Dr Chioma Ejikeme told reporters at a briefing on Friday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Ejikeme is the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) – the Federal Government agency established in August 2013 in compliance with the provisions of Section 30 sub-section (2) (a) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) of 2004 (amended in 2014).

    She noted that with the approval, PTAD would commence the upward adjustment of all pensioners’ benefits according to the approved template.

    The PTAD chief also announced that the arrears would take effect from April 2019 and the agency would commence payment also in May.

    According to her, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has no reason to protest as the issue was at the conclusive stage and PTAD will continue to work hard to improve the quality of the lives of the senior citizens.

    Ejikeme, however, warned that the payment of the new pension benefits would be done as a responsibility of the government and no form of gratification would be requested.

    She asked the pensioners to report anyone requesting gratification before their benefits would be paid.

    The PTAD chief appealed to the senior citizens to continue to cooperate with the agency to provide better services to them.

  • Minimum Wage Bill: We’ll not hurt Nigerian workers – Gbajabiamila

    Minimum Wage Bill: We’ll not hurt Nigerian workers – Gbajabiamila

    …says House has best intentions for Nigerians

    The House of Representatives would not do anything to hurt Nigerian workers as the Green Chamber will always work in tandem with the yearnings and aspirations of the people, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has said.

    Speaking during a meeting with a delegation from the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba on Tuesday in Abuja, the Speaker called on the organised labour to use advocacy and lobbying as tools to register its disagreement with legislative decisions and actions.

    Gbajabiamila said those were the most potent tools deployed by labour in advanced democracies to score high points as against street protests or the casting of aspersions on members of the legislature.

    He said the dust being raised by the Minimum Wage Bill could be addressed successfully during the public hearing, where all stakeholders, including labour unions, would have the opportunity to kick against the draft legislation.

    “The fact is that I’m a labour friendly Speaker, and I represent a labour friendly House.

    “I want us to agree, first of all, that whatever was debated on the issue of minimum wage, the contributions by each member, were well-intended.

    “When we begin to castigate members like that, it doesn’t pay us. No member will come up with something that he knows will be against the people.

    “I want to tell you that we will do what we ought to do. You know me, and you know some of our members. If this hurts the Nigerian people, we’ll do the right thing,” he said.

    The delegation paid a courtesy visit to the Speaker over the proposed bill to transfer the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive-Legislative List to the Concurrent List.

    The bill, initiated in the House, had already passed second reading.

    On Wednesday last week, the labour leadership led workers on a protest match to the National Assembly, demanding the withdrawal of the Bill on the grounds that it would “enslave” workers and erode the gains achieved in the over 40 years of wage negotiations in Nigeria.

    However, meeting with the labour delegation on Tuesday, Gbajabiamila reassured workers that the House would never be anti-people, but would always take decisions to serve the best interests of all Nigerians.

    He explained that the proponents of the bill were also concerned about the welfare of workers and sought how to resolve the age-long problem of irregular or non-payment of salaries by many states in the country.

    Gbajabiamila informed the delegation that the fact of a bill being debated on the floor did not mean that the Legislature would pass it without “fully taking into account, the totality of the merits and demerits of the bill.”

    He noted that where the demerits weighed heavily against a bill, the House had the only option of stopping such a bill.

    The Speaker said he had expected labour to deploy advocacy in the media or lobbying through public hearing on the bill to register its disagreement as against casting aspersions on the image of lawmakers.

    He spoke more: “In arresting a piece of legislation, because are talking democracy here, you can do it through advocacy; you can do it at the public hearing.

    “I had a bill as the Speaker of the House that suffered the same fate – the Infectious Diseases Bill. It went through a public hearing and now we have removed some things from the bill; we listened to Nigerians and now you won’t find some of those things anymore.

    “I would have loved a situation where you made your case at the public hearing or through advocacy in the media.”

    He added that the Minimum Wage Bill, being a constitutional amendment bill, will take a very long journey through the House, the public hearing, the Senate and the State Houses of Assembly before eventually making its way to the Presidency for possible assent by Mr President.

    Gbajabiamila assured the delegation that at whatever point it became clear that the bill did not receive the support of the majority of lawmakers and Nigerians, it would “definitely” be stood down.

    He appealed to the labour leadership to shelve its plan for further street protests or calling out workers to embark on industrial action.

    Speaking earlier, Wabba told Gbajabiamila that the NLC and the TUC leaderships started mobilising workers against the bill because they believed it would erode the over 40 years of progress made in minimum wage negotiations in the country.

    He said if allowed to pass, the bill would ridicule Nigeria before the international community, being a signatory to Convention 26 of the International Labour Organisation on wage issues.

    The NLC President argued that minimum wage was a standard embraced by most countries as the minimum take-home-pay for a worker.

    He noted that the minimum wage was always determined by the national parliament, but employers at the sub-national levels were free to negotiate with their workers to pay higher, according to the resources available to them.

    Wabba maintained labour’s position that the problem was not the inability of states to pay the minimum wage, but a case of “misplaced priorities.”

  • Minimum Wage: We Have Triggered A National Discourse – Garba Datti

    Minimum Wage: We Have Triggered A National Discourse – Garba Datti

    Mr Garba Datti says he is glad that his call for the decentralization of the minimum wage bill has stirred a national discussion regarding the welfare of Nigerian workers.

    The legislator who was on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily said rather than turn to violence and name-calling,  the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) should look at dialogue as a suitable way of resolving any issue they have regarding the bill.

    Datti through a bill sponsored at the House of Representatives initiated a move to remove the powers to negotiate the minimum wage from the Federal Government.

    The bill which has passed its second reading in the Green Chamber stirred organised labour against the national lawmakers in the country with the workers union threatening to embark on a nationwide protest if the bill is not discarded.

    However, Hon Datti said on Thursday that rather than take industrial actions, the NLC can attend to their issues with the bill by making their case at the National Assembly’s public hearing.

    According to him, the NLC and the legislature are not at variance.

    The lawmaker argued that what the Federal Government has decided to pay workers is a remuneration that most states cannot pay and as such, there is a need for devolution.

  • Workers Sets To Down Tools Over Minimum Wage, Gives 12 Days Ultimatum In Kogi

    Workers Sets To Down Tools Over Minimum Wage, Gives 12 Days Ultimatum In Kogi

    By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja

    Organized labour in Kogi State has given the State government 12 days ultimatum to implement the N30,000 minimum wage or will be forced to begin an indefinite strike.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress, (TUC), gave this ultimatum on Wednesday in a peaceful protest while presenting their letter to the Speaker,  Kogi State House of Assembly on the transfer of the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List.

    Speaking on behalf of workers, the Kogi State Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), Comrade Onuh Edoka said since the state government set up a-17-man committee in 2019, nothing was heard from government again.

    While noting that Kogi workers are suffering due to the unfriendly economic condition of the country, the labour leader accused some cabinet members of the state government of trying to mislead Governor Yahaya Bello on critical issues that has to do with workers’ welfare.

    “The committee headed by the SSG in 2020 hid under the guise of corona virus not to submit its report to the Governor. Up till now, nothing was heard from the government. Let the committee present the report once and for all.”

    ” No cabinet member should deceive Governor Bello so that they will not submit their report. The Governor is aiming for something higher, and this could be a panacea to his political ambition” he added.

    “We therefore want to plead with You, Distinguished Speaker, to use your good office to prevail on the committee set up by the state government on the implementation of the N30,000. New Minimum Wage so as to guarantee industrial harmony  and peaceful coexistence in the state” he added.

    Edoka and his team who were  received by the clerk of the house, Alhaji Ibrahim Amoka on behalf of the Speaker, however, called for an end to percentage salary at the  local Government level.

    He lamented that Local Government workers are collecting 40 percent salary noting that, lives is becoming unbearable for them in the state.

    “The issue of percentage payment of salary to employees at the Local Government level needed urgent attention of the honourable house to mitigate the effect of the hardships steering the workers at that level in the face.” He added.

    “Consequently, there is an urgent need to cash-back all promotions already earned by workers and we seek the intervention of the House of Assembly in this regard please”.

    On the bill by the House of representative  to transfer the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, Edoka admonished President Muhammadu Buhari not to give room for fifth columnist but continue to stand with Nigerian workers.

    He recalled that minimum wage is an agreement of the International Labour Organization  which was domesticated during the Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1981.

    “Any attempt to remove Minimum wage from the exclusive list will incidentally bring suffering to all organized Nigeria workers and the vulnerable, because it is the same wage we collect and we buy from them”.

    The implications  of transferring the national minimum wage from the Exclusive Legislative List according to him would be a license for State Governors to drag the country back to the era of ridiculous slave wages which in the past had precipitated multifarious industrial crises in different parts of the country”

    ” It could lead to the exclusion of the private sector (both organised and unorganised) from the concept, rationale and logic of a national minimum wage, yet, it is in this informal sector that horrendously unfair labour practices take place.”

    ” Removing it will be insulting the intelligence of the national assembly and those  that drafted the constitution that kept it in the exclusive list.He said the bill is anti workers and should be stepped down.”

    It could be recalled that  the House of Representatives last two weeks introduced the bill which according to the sponsor, Hon. Garba Mohammed would allow both the Federal and state governments to freely negotiate a minimum wage with workers in line with the nation’s federal system, a move which the protesting workers say does not work in their favour.

    The workers said if their demands are not met on or before 22nd March,  2021, they will embark on an indefinite strike.

  • Minimum Wage: Protesting Workers Force Their Way Into National Assembly

    Minimum Wage: Protesting Workers Force Their Way Into National Assembly

    Nigerian workers in their hundreds stormed the National Assembly complex in Abuja, demanding the withdrawal of a bill that would remove the National Minimum Wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.

    About a fortnight ago, the House of Representatives introduced a bill which according to the sponsor, Hon. Garba Mohammed would allow both the Federal and state governments to freely negotiate the minimum wage with their workers in line with the nation’s federal system.

    This move, the protesting workers say does not work in their favour, stressing that it is an attempt by some state governors and members of the National Assembly to short-change them.

    The workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress and its affiliates forced their way through the gate of the National Assembly despite attempts by security personnel to stop them.

    They were received by the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Sabi Abdullahi who tried to pacify the protesters who were demanding to speak with the Senate President.

    With both the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representative absent, President of the NLC Ayuba Wabba again reiterated the position of the workers, saying if nothing is done to stop the bill, and ensure implementation of the national minimum wage, the organised labour will have no option than to embark on a national strike.

    Mr Wabba had earlier stated that the protest was to ensure that the right of Nigerian workers to enjoy the minimum wage in line with international standards, is established and not infringed upon.

    After the briefing, the NLC president and his TUC counterpart presented the letter of protest to both representatives of the Senate President, Sabi Abdullahi and that of the House of Representatives Ado Doguwa.

    In reaction, Hon. Doguwa assured he protesters that the House will give listening ears to the concerns of the workers.

    According to him the only justice to the bill is to kill it as requested by the workers.

  • NLC Threaten To Protest At NASS, State Assemblies Over Minimum Wage

    NLC Threaten To Protest At NASS, State Assemblies Over Minimum Wage

    The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday directed its members across the country to occupy legislative houses from Wednesday next week.

    These include the National Assembly in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well as the Houses of Assembly in various states of the Federation.

    According to the labour body, the directive is to protest against a bill seeking to take the national minimum wage from the exclusive list and allow state governments to fix minimum wages for workers.

    The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, made the announcement at a news conference in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    He noted that the bill if allowed to be passed into law, would enable authorities in the states to enslave their workers.

    Wabba explained that the directive was part of the resolutions reached at an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the NLC.

    He said, “The NEC decided that should the need arise; it has empowered the National Administration Council of the NLC to declare and enforce a national strike action, especially if the legislators continue on the ruinous path of moving the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List.”

    “The NEC warned that should the current artificial scarcity persist, that the various leadership structures of the NLC should picket petrol stations found to be inflicting pains on Nigerians,” the NLC president added.

  • Gov Ortom directs payment of N30,000 National Minimum wage to civil servants

    Gov Ortom directs payment of N30,000 National Minimum wage to civil servants

    By Isaac Kertyo, Makurdi

    Arrangements have reached an advanced stage by the Benue State Government to pay N30,000 National Minimum wage to civil servants in the state.

    To this end, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has directed the Head of Civil Service to commence the implementation of the interim agreement government has reached with labour leaders over payment of the N30,000 National Minimum wage to civil servants from grade levels one to six.

    Ortom who who gave the directive through his Chief Press Secretary Terver Akase, shortly after meeting with the state labour leaders, commended them for their understanding.

    The Governor reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to the implementation of the aforesaid agreement to ameliorate the hardship being experienced by workers.

    He assured Benue workers that the present administration under his watch would continue to give priority to their welfare.

  • Minimum wage: Osun already paying – Says Adekomi, NLC Chairman

    Minimum wage: Osun already paying – Says Adekomi, NLC Chairman

    By Richard Ayinde, Osogbo.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Osun State Chapter, has condemned media report that listed Osun among states in the country that were yet to implement the new national minimum wage.

    A newspaper had erroneously reported that during the last Central Working Committee and National Executive Council meeting of the NLC held in Abuja between 17 and 18 of February, 2020, Osun was mentioned among states in the country that are yet to implement the new minimum wage

    However, a statement by the State Chairman of the NLC, Jacob Adekomi, described the reports as malicious and misleading, stressing that there was no time at the meeting Osun was mentioned among states that were yet to implement the minimum wage.

    According to the NLC Chairman, it is glaring that Osun State is among the few states in the Federation that have implemented the new minimum wage.

    “The media report is not only malicious but misleading because the State Council of NLC duly represented in the Meeting and there was no time that States that had not started implementing Minimum Wage was mentioned. This is verifiable through the Comminique released at the end of the NEC- in Session.

    “Therefore, the reports should be discarded and thrown into the dustbin because it does not emanated from the National Headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress,” the statement reads in part.

    Adekomi said workers in Osun appreciate Governor Adegboyega Oyetola for approving the implementation of the new minimum wage and annual salary increment for them.

    “The State has moved beyond the issue of Minimum Wage for now and we are awaiting other largesses promised the workers via the agreements signed between the Government and Joint Labour Force in the State.

    “We shall continue to appreciate all the good workers in the State for their support, perseverance and commitment during the time past,” he added.

    It will be recalled that Governor Oyetola in October, 2020 approved the payment of minimum wage to civil servants in the state beginning from November 1, 2020.

    He also lifted the embargo on annual salary increment, promotion and conversion, which he said, was in fulfillment of his administration’s pledge to give the welfare of workers the deserved attention.