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  • NLC President, Wabba wins second term unopposed

    Mr Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has promised to double his efforts in protecting the interest and rights of the Nigerian workers.

    Wabba made the promise in his acceptance speech, which he read at the end of the 12th Delegates Conference of NLC on Wednesday in Abuja.

    Wabba was returned as the President of NLC unopposed after a unanimous decision by delegates at the conference.

    All the newly elected officers would be in charge of the workers’ union between 2019 and 2023.

    According to him, the labour leaders would double their efforts to ensure that the rights and interests of workers are protected.

    “The board will respect the will of members and consolidate on what we are doing.

    “We will continue to conform to the tradition of the union and speak the truth to those in power. The daily challenges of workers at work place will be confronted.

    “We have been able to work assiduously in the past four years and we will move forward to build workers poser. I assure our members of our commitment and dedication to the resolutions of the conference,” he said.

    The NLC president called on the political class to imitate the rancour-free election of the NLC.

    He also said that it was important to address the global imbalance where more people live below poverty line in spite of the growing global wealth.

    Among those returned are first deputy president, Amaechi Asuguni; second deputy president, Muhammed Idris; and third deputy president, Najim Yasim.

    Others are National Treasurer, Ibrahim Khalil; First Vice president, Abdulrafiu Adeniji; Second Vice president, Peter Adeyemi; Third Vice president, Lawrence Amaechi; Fourth Vice president, Oyelekan Lateef, Fifth Vice president, Mercy Okezie and National Trustee, Adewale Adeyanju.

    Also elected are financial secretary, Mustapha Adamu; first internal auditor, Simon Ankavar; second internal auditor, Benjamin Anthony; third internal auditor, Olatunji Babatunde; first ex-officio member, Funmilayo Issa; and second ex-officio member, Comfort Okoh.

  • Minimum wage: Again, NLC threatens strike action if…

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Friday directed its members to be ready to take appropriate actions should the National Assembly fail to do the needful by affirming N30,000 as the new national minimum wage at state and federal levels.

    It said the National Assembly should uphold the recommendation of the tripartite committee which specified N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

    President of the congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, told reporters at the end of an emergency meeting of the Central Working Committee of the congress yesterday that the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions guiding negotiations on minimum wage do not allow one party to change the figures agreed upon after negotiations.

    The process of changing the figure agreed upon after negotiations, he said, must follow the same process of negotiations in accordance with international best practices and in accordance with ILO conventions.

    He insisted that even the N30,000 agreed to by the tripartite committee was a compromise position for which labour should be commended as it is still less than 100 dollars if converted.

    Wabba said: “This is the resolution that has just been adopted by a meeting of the Central Working Committee of the Nigeria Labour Congress. The meeting deliberated on a one-item agenda which is the issue of the transmission of the national minimum wage bill to the National Assembly.

    “The meeting reviewed the whole situation, including the fact that what was agreed at the tripartite negotiation meeting of the review of the minimum wage was N30,000. It is actually out of place and out of procedure for that figure to be reduced to N27,000. “

  • Minimum Wage: NLC postpones strike, to hold nationwide protest Tuesday

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says it will on Tuesday hold a nationwide protest to drive its demand for the upward review of the national minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000.

    The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said in a statement that there would be no strike for now.

    Ozo-Eson, therefore, asked members of the public to disregard reports that the strike would begin tomorrow.

    The statement read in part, “It has come to our attention that some sections of the news media have largely misrepresented our action plan in reaction to the delay in transmitting the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee on a new national minimum wage to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “It should be recalled that the National Executive Council of the NLC met on December 17 last year and directed that we hold nationwide mobilisation of workers and our allies if, by December 31, 2018, the bill on the national minimum wage has yet to be sent to the National Assembly to be passed as an Act of Parliament.

    “We immediately announced then that on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, there will be a nationwide mass mobilisation and protests simultaneously across all states in Nigeria. This does not translate to a strike.”

  • Minimum Wage: Mobilise for indefinite national strike, NLC tells workers

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has pledged commitment to workers welfare while appealing to the Federal Government to urgently transmit the bill on the new national minimum wage to the National Assembly.

    Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, made the appeal in a New Year message on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to him, 2018 remains one of the most traumatic for workers especially given the failure of government to enact and implement the new national minimum wage of N30,000.

    “This is in spite of the unimpeachable tripartite process leading to the agreement by the social partners on the new national minimum wage.

    “It is unfortunate that the Federal Government is yet to transmit to the National Assembly an executive bill for the enactment of N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

    “Government’s dilly-dallying on the issue has strained Government-Labour relations with a potential for a major national strike which could just be days away.

    “Accordingly, we would use this opportunity to appeal to the Government to do the needful by urgently transmitting the bill on the new national minimum wage to the National Assembly.

    “We also would like to use this same opportunity to urge workers to fully mobilise for a prolonged national strike and enforce their right,” he said.

    The NLC president said the strike became the inevitable last option for labour, while calling on all Nigerians and businesses to understand and support it.

    He, however, assured workers that their labour, patience and diligence would not be in vain.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has pledged commitment to workers welfare while appealing to the Federal Government to urgently transmit the bill on the new national minimum wage to the National Assembly.

    Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, made the appeal in a New Year message on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to him, 2018 remains one of the most traumatic for workers especially given the failure of government to enact and implement the new national minimum wage of N30,000.

    “This is in spite of the unimpeachable tripartite process leading to the agreement by the social partners on the new national minimum wage.

    “It is unfortunate that the Federal Government is yet to transmit to the National Assembly an executive bill for the enactment of N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

    “Government’s dilly-dallying on the issue has strained Government-Labour relations with a potential for a major national strike which could just be days away.

    “Accordingly, we would use this opportunity to appeal to the Government to do the needful by urgently transmitting the bill on the new national minimum wage to the National Assembly.

    “We also would like to use this same opportunity to urge workers to fully mobilise for a prolonged national strike and enforce their right,” he said.

    The NLC president said the strike became the inevitable last option for labour, while calling on all Nigerians and businesses to understand and support it.

    He, however, assured workers that their labour, patience and diligence would not be in vain.

    “We will continue to insist on accountability. The NLC will continue to promote worker-education and mobilisation through Congress education programmes and other union training programmes.

    “These activities will be religiously held with the objective of positive impact on workers.

    “Therefore, we urge government at all levels to consider workers as assets and partners in development rather than liabilities,” he said.

    He stressed that the NLC would continue to insist that the elections are clean and that the congress focus was particularly trained on the 2019 general election.

    Mr Wabba also said the NLC would continue to demand that both the election umpire and political actors play by the rules of the game.

    “This is by shunning violence, election malpractices, vote buying, and manipulation of election rules and politics of bitterness.

    “We will also deepen our campaign for good governance and fight against corruption in the same manner that we sustained the campaign for tax justice and illicit financial flows.

    “We also demand that the recovered loot be invested transparently for the benefit of all Nigerians.

    “We say no to the wanton killings under any guise in our country. It also shows a dearth of social justice and the reign of abject poverty. This is a serious setback to the fight against terrorism in our dear country.

    “We wish to remind our political leaders that the security and welfare of the people must be the chief priority of any government’s policy and programmes,” Mr Wabba said.

    He however reiterated NLC’s resolve to continue to push for the prioritisation of the welfare, security and wellbeing of all Nigerians especially workers of all categories.

    He added that “we wish to assure Nigerians, workers that our resolve and commitment to the noble goals and aspirations of justice, equity, decent wages and accelerated national development remains unshakable and inviolable”.

  • Minimum wage: Blame FG if we embark on another strike – NLC

    Minimum wage: Blame FG if we embark on another strike – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress on Monday said Nigerians should not blame the union for the looming industrial chaos in January owing to what it perceived as the silence of President Muhammadu Buhari over the N30,000 minimum wage.

    The union also knocked Buhari for his proposed establishment of a technical committee to look into the minimum wage issue, stressing that the only recognised panel was the tripartite committee that had already submitted its report on the minimum wage.

    The union had on Friday said in a communiqué issued after its meeting in Abuja that it would stage a nationwide protest on January 8, 2019 over what it described as the Federal Government’s delay in transmitting, enacting and implementing a new national minimum wage of N30,000 for workers.

    The union also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate state governors for alleged diversion of the bailout funds and other finds released by the Federal Government to them.

    Earlier, the union had frowned on a statement credited to the Nigeria Governors Forum which stated that states would not be able to pay the new minimum wage. The statement was released by the NGF Chairman, Abdulaziz Yari, after a meeting of the governors.

    The NLC said it made a lot of sacrifices to lower its demand from N60,000 to N30,000, stressing that the governors were carried along before the new amount was arrived at.

    It called on the governors not to treat workers like slaves.

    In chat with newsmen, the General Secretary of the NLC, Peter Ozo-Eson, reiterated workers’ resolve not to accept anything lower than the proposed N30,000 minimum wage.

    He said, “After the statement we issued on the coming industrial strike, we have not heard anything from the Presidency. The day we submitted the report, he (Buhari) promised that he would speedily transmit a draft bill to the National Assembly; but till today, about two months after, he has not transmitted that to the National Assembly.

    “What we heard during the budget presentation at the National Assembly is that a high-powered technical committee will be set up. We find that very unfortunate because the technical committee in relation to minimum wage is the tripartite committee that has finished its work and made recommendations.

    “Talking of any committee, be it low-powered, medium-powered or high-powered at this stage is unacceptable to us. We formally reject it and call on Mr President to send the bill to the National Assembly. The ultimatum we gave is for the bill to be sent to the NASS. The House took a resolution calling on the President to bring the bill; what is the difficulty he is having? If he cannot do it, nobody should hold organised labour in the country responsible for the industrial chaos that is likely to follow.”

    The NLC secretary also knocked the governors for what he described as unaccountable expenditure, saying that the union was not using the forthcoming elections to blackmail them.

    “The minimum wage issue is not a partisan issue. It is one of the issues that will determine the next elections. Workers are not slaves; politics is about interest and seeking one’s own interest. If workers in their states are saying that they will not vote for them because they have not taken care of their interest, you don’t call that blackmail. I have a different name for it; that is democracy. That is how democracy works. They can go and mourn till high heaven; we will continue to work in that direction,” Ozo-Eson added.

     

  • New Minimum Wage: NLC declares ‘national day of protests’

    Two months after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) suspended its four-day strike, the union says it will embark on a day of national protest.

    Recall that the unions have been at loggerheads with the federal government over a new minimum wage. The NLC and other labour unions demand that the national minimum wage be increased to N30,000 from the current N18,000.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has however refused to commit to the new proposal. Instead, the president said during his budget presentation speech on Wednesday that he would set up a technical committee to review the N30,000 proposed by a tripartite committee earlier set up by the federal government. State governments have also said they would not be able to pay the N30,000 minimum wage.

    The NLC, however, says it would not partake in any further negotiation of the N30,000 and that all the president needs to do is send a bill to parliament for N30,000 minimum wage. The labour congress, a registered coalition of many workers’ unions, said its one-day protest, against the president’s action, is scheduled to take place on January 8, 2019.

    The NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, disclosed this in a statement released on Friday night.

    Wabba said the resolution was reached at a meeting of the National Executive Council of the NLC on Wednesday in Abuja.

    According to Mr Wabba, the protest is to “express anger and total dissatisfaction over the delay by the federal government in transmitting, enacting and implementing the new national minimum wage of N30,000.

    “The NEC-in-Session approved that the protests should hold in all state capitals and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja on January 8, 2019. The NEC mandates all industrial unions and state councils to fully mobilise workers and coordinate with other labour unions for this mother-of-all protest,” he said.

    Wabba said the union strongly condemned the continued delay by the federal government to transmit a bill of the new national minimum wage to the National Assembly for enactment into law.

    The NLC also criticised the actions of the Ogun State Government.

    “The NEC particularly took strong exceptions to the unrelenting attitude of the Ogun State Government to frustrate efforts to peacefully reinstate the NLC Chairman in Ogun State, Comrade Akeem Ambali who was sacked from the employment of the Ogun State government in the middle of a 2016 strike action to protest injustice against Ogun State workers,” he said.

    He said the Ogun State Government is owing workers who have retired since 2012.

    “Ogun statement has not paid Ogun State workers who have retired their gratuity since 2012. Even those paid before then were severely shortchanged as the Ogun State government used an unknown and illegal instrument, the so-called “Basic Rent and Transport” (BRT), to calculate gratuity due to workers”

    Wabba also alleged that the Ogun State Government is the highest debtor on Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    He said the state government has not remitted the Contributory Pension Scheme for an accumulated and contiguous period of one hundred and six (106) months.

    “The Ogun State Government has refused to release 7 months check off dues from workers to trade unions in the state. This is despite an agreement the State Government signed with workers to use 50% of the Paris Club Refund to offset debts owed Ogun State workers,” he said.

  • Include N30, 000 ‘new minimum wage’ in your 2019 budgets, NLC tells governors

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has informed governors of the 36 states of the federation to include the payment of the new national minimum wage in their 2019 Appropriation Bills.

    Labour said doing so remained the only to avoid friction and crisis in the New Year, adding that the state governments are buoyant enough to pay the N30, 000 being demanded for workers as minimum wage.

    NLC President Ayuba Wabba said the minimum expectations from workers as the President presents the national budget “is for provisions to be made in the budget for the implementation of the minimum wage.”

    Wabba, who recently became the first African and the first black man to be elected President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), described as unfortunate that workers continued to bear the brunt of economic hardship, with nobody fighting their cause whenever the economy improves.

    He said that governors only say they cannot implement the minimum wage because of how they have handled the resources at their disposal, saying the issue has nothing to do with the availability of resources.

    Wabba said: “Legally, the minimum wage due and the President has openly told the world that he is committed to it. Our minimum expectation is that the minimum wage be accommodated in the budget and for workers to actually begin to benefit from it.

    “There is no two way about this because it is legitimately due. So, Nigerian workers should not be made to suffer the consequences of what they are not responsible for. When the economy is doing well, nobody bothers about workers. But when the economy is worse, the workers will be at the receiving end because in most cases, they are not paid.

    “So, when the economy is doing well and when it is not, we have not actually received the desired attention. So, our expectation is that since everybody mutually agreed, the minimum wage should be a priority.”

  • NLC to place governors owing salaries, pensions on “watch list”

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is to liase with the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) to place names of governors in the states where workers are being owed salaries and pensions for several months on a “watch list”.

    NAN reports that the ITUC is the world’s largest trade union federation.

    It was formed on Nov. 1, 2006, out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour.

    Mr Ayuba Wabba, President of the NLC, made this known while addressing the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) at its 17th anniversary on Tuesday Abuja.

    He said that aside “naming and shaming” these governors, the NLC would soon direct Nigeria workers to monitor various airports in the country to stop such governors who may have completed their term from fleeing the country

    “We will instruct workers at the nation’s airports to disallow and disgrace any governors trying to leave the country in order to enjoy themselves overseas.

    “We have issued statements to these governors owing salaries, informing them that they cannot go anywhere to enjoy the monies they have carted away.

    “They will be disgrace and chases away,” he said.

    He said: “instead of using the money to make life good and build the country for the good of everybody, a few elites will embezzle what is meant for all for their personal use.”

    Wabba however assured pensioners that the NLC would not relent it its effort to ensure the issue of minimum pension alongside the minimum wage, was addressed.

    He said that if the government must address the issue of pensioners, it must address the welfare of pensioners, this he said would ensure that workers desist from looting.

    Wabba commended President Muhammad Buhari for the payment of pensions arrears for the Nigeria Airways workers and the 33 per cent increment the pension.

  • Minimum wage will determine workers’ voting pattern in 2019 elections – NLC

    The National Minimum Wage will determine the voting pattern by Nigerian workers in the 2019 general elections, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said.

    Its General Secretary, Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

    Ozo-Eson said that this was due to the delay by President Muhammadu Buhari to transmit an Executive Bill on the agreed N30, 000 National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly to kick-start its implementation.

    “I want to say that if this is not addressed now, the minimum wage issue will become the major determinant of the 2019 General Elections.

    “I think the government must ensure that it quickly takes this matter up on the table so that it does not get mixed up with the forthcoming general elections in the country,’’ he said.

    Ozo-Eson said that it was already more than a month since the Ama Pepple-led Tripartite Committee submitted its recommendation of N30, 000 report to the president.

    “We are already more than three weeks gone, since the submission of that recommendation of the tripartite committee to Mr President.

    “Mr President had promised at the occasion that he will act quickly on it.

    “We are disturbed that up till now he has not sent the bill to the National Assembly.

    “Therefore, our advice to workers is that those in government who have shown no interest in the welfare of workers, or have unleashed terror on workers, should be voted out.

    “We urge our members to use their voting powers to vote such people out,” he said.

    The NLC scribe recalled that the minimum wage had been due for review for more than two years.

    He said though, the union understood the current economic challenges of the country, government could have still done better if they have the interest of workers at heart.

    Ozo-Eson said that though, the political parties have started their campaign, the National Assembly had assured workers that legislators would attend to bills of national importance.

    He also said that the National Assembly members had specifically promised that they would give accelerated hearing if the bill on the minimum wage reached them.

  • NLC advises Buhari again on minimum wage

    NLC advises Buhari again on minimum wage

    Labour leaders on Saturday repeated their advice to President Muhammadu Buhari not to be misled by some governors on the new minimum wage demand by Nigerian workers.

    Speaking during a working visit to Ado Ekiti, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, said there was no going back on the amount submitted to the Federal Government by labour.

    He described the threat by governors that paying N30, 000 as minimum wage would result to retrenchments as mere distraction by the governors on the issue.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that labour and the governors have been at odds, following the persistent demand by the former that public sector workers in Nigeria should be paid a “decent wage’’.

    Analysts have criticized the Nigerian government over the low pay of civil servants in the top oil exporting nation, where politicians earn some of the biggest wages in the world.

    Wabba noted that labour was determined more than ever before to ensure that workers received decent pay, urging unions nationwide to remain resolute in their wage increase demands.

    The labour chief, who was in Ado Ekiti to attend the 75th birthday celebration of a former Chairman of the
    Ekiti State Chapter of the Medical and Health Union of Nigeria, Mr Johnson Ogunseeyin, described the governors’ position as reckless and heartless.

    “I consider the governors’ position as a trick that is not new to us. There is no agitation by labour that never experienced such. So, we consider their position as an afterthought.

    “In case they didn’t know, labour started with a proposal of N66, 000. So N30, 000 was a midway approach to resolve the crisis.

    “We didn’t just request for it, we considered the high inflation rate, the poor purchasing power of naira among other variables.

    “While we commend about six governors for saying they will pay N30, 000 minimum wage, we challenge those saying they can’t pay to go to their states and tell workers and pensioners that they can’t pay.

    “This agitation started in November last year, even when the review was supposed to take place in 2016. The governors were asked to send memoranda and only 21 states complied.

    “We want to tell the governors that we won’t succumb to their antics. We will receive nothing less than N30, 000 minimum wage for our people and we have directed workers to vote out any governor or his
    successor, who says he is not ready to pay,’’ said the labour leader.

    Earlier, Wabba described Ogunseeyin as one of the few
    patriots and unionists, who fought for improved welfare of Nigerian workers.

    In a speech, the Ekiti State Head of Service, Dr Gbenga Faseluka, appealed to workers to make productivity their watchwords, to boost nation growth.

    Many labour leaders, including the Chairman of the NLC in Ekiti, Mr Ade Adesanmi, attended the event.