The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has charged its members to continue to mobilize in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on the 6th of November if recommendations of the Tripartite Committee are not adopted.
President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba gave the charge at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.
Comrade Wabba reiterated that any figure below N30,000 will not be accepted by the organised labour union.
According to him, We wish to reiterate our position adopted at our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of 23rd October, 2018 that any figure below N30,000 will not
be accepted by us. We call on our members to continue to mobilize in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on the 6th of November, 2018, if by then necessary steps have not been taken to adopt the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee.
Reacting to claims by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) that it can only pay N22,500 as the New Minimum Wage, Wabba noted that the Forum is not a negotiating body but a mere political organisation for the convenience of state governors.
He explained that the organised labour’s demand was initially N66,500 but a compromised figure of N30,000 was arrived at the end of negotiations last year by the Tripartite partners that comprises of Government, Employers and Organized Labour.
“The new minimum wage was a product of intense negotiations that lasted for almost one year”, Wabba added.
The Labour Union therefore condemned the communique issued by the Nigeria Governors Forum on October the 30th stressing that it is an attempt to undermine the authority of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tag: Industrial Action
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Minimum wage: NLC dares Buhari, governors, insists on November 6 nationwide strike
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Kenyan doctors strike: Military medics deployed
The Kenyan government on Friday deployed the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) doctors to attend to emergency cases at the country’s largest referral hospital in Nairobi amid crisis in the health sector due to an ongoing strike.
KDF spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Njuguna said the military doctors will offer services at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) after 290 specialists joined the ongoing medics’ strike which entered its fifth day.
He said the deployment of doctors is part of KDF duties of alleviating sufferings, adding that the military has already sent enough personnel at KNH. Njuguna said the doctors would remain at the hospital until the strike is over.
“Our doctors have gone to KNH to assist the patients suffering from the strike by doctors. They will remain until the ongoing strike is over. That is part of our mandate and we have stepped in to help the needy cases there. We have specialists to attend to them,” Njuguna said.
The deployment came hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta urged doctors to return to work and not to make innocent patients suffer.
Kenyatta said the government was keen on ensuring that issues that staged the strike are resolved and a permanent solution found.
The deployment of doctors was prompted by the move by 200 consultants attached to the largest referral hospital joined their striking colleagues to push for the implementation of the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that awarded them a 300 percent pay increment and agreed to employ more doctors and nurses to reduce their workload and doctor to patient ratio from the current 1:16,000.
The strike by the health workers has dealt a major blow to thousands of patients since the country’s largest population depends on public health facilities.
Gory pictures of agony, misery and pain are all written on the faces of the patients who are in most cases turned away or left unattended.
Meanwhile, the health ministry said the government has offered to increase pay perk for striking doctors of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union effective January 1, 2017.
However, the proposal which was fronted by the National and County governments on Wednesday after extensive meetings has been rejected by the doctors.
The two arms of the government have also committed not to victimizing or taking disciplinary action against members of the union for participating in the ongoing industrial action.
The ministry said efforts to permanently, amicably and sustainably resolve the underlying issues are ongoing.