TheNewsGuru

Tag: NLC

  • Ex-NLC president kidnapped in Kaduna

    Ex-NLC president kidnapped in Kaduna

    A former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Takai Shamang has been abducted in his hometown, Biniki, in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna state.

    Shamang, 78, was also a former President General of the National Union of Electricity and Gas Workers, now National Union of Electricity Employees between 1982 and 1989.

    Confirming the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), his daughter, Mrs Grace Abbin, said her 78-year-old father was abducted at his residence in Biniki, at about 8:00pm on Friday.

    Shamang is the President and Founder of Gantys Aid for Widows, Orphans and Needy Foundation, popularly known as GAWON Foundation.

  • NLC reacts over recent hike in electricity tariff

    NLC reacts over recent hike in electricity tariff

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned another hike in electricity tariff instead of a reversal as promised by the Federal Government.

    Mr Joe Ajaero, NLC President said this on Thursday in Abuja in a statement titled, “Stop killing the people and the economy,”.

    According to Ajaero, the hike in tariff by DISCOs from N206.80 to N209.5 with effect from July 1, 2024 for the so-called band ‘A’ customers represents the height of impunity and arrogance.

    “This will certainly put more companies out of business as well as create more difficulties for consumers.

    “This increment has come in the heels of unresolved contestations around the insane 250 per cent hike in tariff leading to national paralysis including the shutting down of 300 businesses as per MAN,” he said.

    He noted that the 250 per cent hike drew the ire of the citizenry and rage of organised labour whose members went on a one-day protest for its unreasonableness and violation of extant rules of tariff hike.

    “We demand a reversal. The only reason that action was paused was a firm assurance from relevant quarters including the National Assembly that the matter would be dealt with quietly.

    “That there is another hike instead of a reversal as promised is further proof of the insincerity of government just as it is equally a measure of government’s insensitivity.

    “We have no doubt that this frequent crass display of insincerity and insensitivity will pitch the the people against government or vice versa,” he said.

    Ajaero noted that the three excuses given by DISCOs included exchange rate, interest rate and cost of gas as justification for the increase.

    He added that this underscored the argument that government and entities in the energy sector were not serious about finding an enduring solution to the energy crisis.

    “For, clearly, they are treating the symptoms.

    “Given the further damage this latest wave of increase will do to our economy, we demand an immediate reversal of the hike.

    “It is unjustifiable, unreasonable and malevolent. Government and DISCOs should stop killing the people and the economy,” he said.

  • NLC condemns another hike in electricity tariff

    NLC condemns another hike in electricity tariff

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned another hike in electricity tariff instead of a reversal as promised by the Federal Government.

    Mr Joe Ajaero, NLC President said this on Thursday in Abuja in a statement titled, “Stop killing the people and the economy,”.

    According to Ajaero, the hike in tariff by DISCOs from N206.80 to N209.5 with effect from July 1, 2024 for the so-called band ‘A’ customers represents the height of impunity and arrogance.

    “This will certainly put more companies out of business as well as create more difficulties for consumers.

    “This increment has come in the heels of unresolved contestations around the insane 250 per cent hike in tariff leading to national paralysis including the shutting down of 300 businesses as per MAN,” he said.

    He noted that the 250 per cent hike drew the ire of the citizenry and rage of organised labour whose members went on a one-day protest for its unreasonableness and violation of extant rules of tariff hike.

    “We demand a reversal. The only reason that action was paused was a firm assurance from relevant quarters including the National Assembly that the matter would be dealt with quietly.

    “That there is another hike instead of a reversal as promised is further proof of the insincerity of government just as it is equally a measure of government’s insensitivity.

    “We have no doubt that this frequent crass display of insincerity and insensitivity will pitch the the people against government or vice versa,” he said.

    Ajaero noted that the three excuses given by DISCOs included exchange rate, interest rate and cost of gas as justification for the increase.

    He added that this underscored the argument that government and entities in the energy sector were not serious about finding an enduring solution to the energy crisis.

    “For, clearly, they are treating the symptoms.

    “Given the further damage this latest wave of increase will do to our economy, we demand an immediate reversal of the hike.

    “It is unjustifiable, unreasonable and malevolent. Government and DISCOs should stop killing the people and the economy,” he said.

  • FG priced minimum wage like tomatoes before arriving at N62,000 – Labour

    FG priced minimum wage like tomatoes before arriving at N62,000 – Labour

    A member of the organized labour negotiation team in the Tripartite Committee for the New National Minimum Wage, Prince Adewale Adeyanju has criticized state governors for obstructing efforts to secure a reasonable wage for government employees

    Adeyanju who is also the president-general of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) described the negotiation on the new minimum wage as pricing of tomato and onions.

    He said: “If you are an employer of labour and you do not have a love of your workers in your heart, how do you call yourself an employer of labour? We have problems with OPS and the state governors who believe they cannot afford to pay N30,000 let alone the figure the labour is demanding.

    ”We started having that issue at the negotiating table where they were dragging from N30,000 to N48,000 and N60,000. They were priced as if they were tomatoes and onions before they now finally came out and said N62,000.

    ”Even before they arrived at N62, 000 the Organised Labour was still coming down so that we could be on the same page. Yes, the country is not smiling.

    “We all know what the harsh economic situation is and the workers have not been happy with the economic downturn. At the close of negotiations, we had two position papers; one from the government and OPS sides that recommended N62,000 and N250,000 from the Labour side which includes TUC and NLC.

    “The ball now lies on the table of Mr President who I believe that this is an opportunity to show empathy to the whole workers. This minimum wage comes every five years. Between now and five years, what is going to be the impact of the figure of a new minimum wage on the lives of the workers in their various workplaces?

    ”That is why we are appealing to him as a friend of workers who persistently promised to give workers a living wage to approve the N250,000. Nothing stops him from approving it, but we heard that he said he would only approve what is what the economy can afford.

    He added: “As organised labour, we all are citizens of this country and we know the economy can afford our demand. We plead that he should not listen to those greedy governors who want to pay slave wages to continue to maintain their outrageous and ostentatious lifestyle.

    ”The security vote they are getting is enough to pay that minimum wage. What are they doing with their security votes? Which security are they providing to the citizens? Some of the governors, the likes of Edo State, have been paying 70,000.”

  • Why governors flout minimum wage law – NLC

    Why governors flout minimum wage law – NLC

    Chris Onyeka, Assistant General-Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says many state Governors are flouting minimum wage Act because they do not believe in sanctity of the law.

    Onyeka gave the position in Abuja on Monday in an interview with NAN on minimum wage law and its implementation.

    While workers are anxiously awaiting a new minimum wage to be passed into law, 15 states are yet to implement the N30,000 wage enacted in 2019.

    Even, with the increased revenue accruable to states after the fuel subsidy removal, the attendant hardship brought about by the hike in pump price, the states are still recalcitrant in paying their workers the minimum wage.

    The states yet to implement the minimum wage, in defiant of the 2019 Act, are, Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Gombe, Niger, Borno, Sokoto, Anambra, Imo, Benue, Taraba and Zamfara.

    Onyeka said: “A state Governor who does not believe in the sanctity of the laws will have a high proclivity to disobeying them.

    “If you examine the history of some of these governors and their handlers, you will find a preponderance of those who came to power by breaking the laws.

    “Is it now that they will obey the national minimum wage act?”.

    The labour leader said many governors were unwilling to pay civil servants their salaries because they see the state resources as theirs and are, therefore, not willing to share with the workers, who create the wealth.

    “Some Governors believe, erroneously, that workers’ salaries can wait or be toyed with without consequences, so, they do not place priority to it.

    “However, they forget that workers are human beings who need their salaries to meet their basic needs of life,” he said.

    Onyeka added that fiscal indiscipline in many states is legendary, adding that, the personal greed of some governors resulted in their appropriating state resources into their private pockets.

    The labour leader reiterated the need to cut cost of governance at all levels and end wastages..

    He identified the measures, to include, reduction in the number of political appointees to reduce overhead, as well as reduction in number of logistics, official and operational vehicles.

    Onyeka said the salaries and allowances of elected and appointed officials of the three arms of government should be in sync with what is receivable by civil servants.

    He said government at all levels should streamline procurement processes to ensure integrity and accountability, fiscal discipline and transparency

    “Governors should ensure budgetary fidelity, shun fund diversions and stop making provisions that allow for looting of the states.

    “They should stay more in their states, instead of constantly being in Abuja, spending a lot of money maintaining two state houses,” he said.

    Speaking on what could be done to compel the governors to obey the minimum wage law, the labour leader said the principles of law enforcement should be deployed.

    According to him, the national minimum wage Act has clauses that take care of the monitoring and compliance, noting that, the challenge is at the level of enforcement.

    “The Federal allocation to such states, once it is established that they are habitual breakers of the law, should be sequestered until they are compelled to pay.

    ‘The labour unions should also be empowered and supported in their actions against such states to pay.

    “The Judiciary should be strengthened, especially the National Industrial Court, to carry out its responsibilities effectively,

    “The court should not only give rulings, but also issue enforceable garnishee orders against such state governments,” he said

    Onyeka maintained that, it is the right of organised labour to embark on strikes, and the federal government must give protection to workers so aggrieved, to freely exercise their legal right.

  • NLC kicks against decentralisation of minimum wage negotiations

    NLC kicks against decentralisation of minimum wage negotiations

    Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the call by some politicians for decentralised minimum wage negotiations.

    Secretary of NLC in Oyo State, Mr Adebayo Aribatise, in an interview with NAN on Sunday in Ibadan, said that decentralising minimum wage negotiations would put workers in some states at a disadvantage.

    Some politicians had, of recent, called for decentralised minimum wage negotiations.

    One of them, Dr Kayode Fayemi, stressed the need for allowing states to conduct wage negotiations with their labour unions, separate from that of the Federal Government.

    Fayemi, a former Governor of Ekiti, said that the position of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, of which he was once the chairman, was that states should be allowed to have negotiations with their labour unions, as ‘fingers are not equal’.

    Explaining the broader implications of a centralised minimum wage, the former governor noted that only a small percentage of the population benefits directly from minimum wage negotiations.

    However, Aribatise frowned at decentralising minimum wage negotiations, saying that it was not ideal for the country.

    He noted that some states in the country had not yet fully implemented the old N30,000 minimum wage despite the efforts put in place by NLC at the national and state levels.

    Besides, the labour leader said that some governors would abuse the privilege if they were allowed to negotiate minimum wage with their states’ workforce.

    “The fact remains that the law binds states to pay national minimum wage. It is expected that the federal government will continue to set the minimum wage. If not, some governors will continue to do as they like.

    “Some governors will bastardise the agreement if we allow it and junior workers will continue to earn nothing worthwhile,” he said.

  • Minimum wage: Why labour should consider FG’s offer – Tripartite committee

    Minimum wage: Why labour should consider FG’s offer – Tripartite committee

    The Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage has given reasons why the organised labour should have a rethink on the amount it is demanding as minimum wage.

    Alhaji Goni Aji, the chairman of the committee said this in Abuja on Sunday.

    The organised labour is demanding for N250, 000 as minimum wage per month.

    But the Federal Government and Organised Private Sector have offered N62,000 per month.

    Goni said that the labour should reconsider its stance based on economic considerations and non-monetary incentives which the Federal Government had so far provided for workers.

    He listed such incentives to include the N35,000 wage award for all treasury-paid federal workers, N100 billion for the procurement of gas fuelled busses and conversion to gas kits.

    Others include the N125 billion conditional grant, financial inclusion to small and medium scale enterprises and the N25,000 each to be shared to 15 million households for three months, according to him.

    He also cited the N185 billion palliatives loans to states to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal and the N200 billion to support the cultivation of hectares of land to boost food production.

    He said that here was another N75 billion to strengthen the manufacturing sector and N1 trillion for student loans for higher education.

    He explained that the release of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains from strategic reserves and the purchase and onward distribution of 60,000 metric tonnes of rice to the millers association.

    Goni  stated that the recent salary increase of 25 per cent and 35 per cent on all consolidated salary structures for federal workers and the 90 per cent subsidy on health costs for federal civil servants registered on health insurance programme.

    All these, he said should be considered by the labour unions and accept the N62, 000 being offered by the Federal Government.

    He said that the light rail commissioned in Abuja was  to relieve transportation cost until the end of the year was a landmark achievements that would cushion the effect of fuel subsidy.

    He said in addition to the freedom of civil servants to engage in agriculture, the Federal Government has approved the inclusion of ICT services for alternate sources of income.

    He said the committee agreed that where major and small businesses were closing down with consequent loss of jobs, the outcome of a new minimum wage should be such that it would not trigger further massive job losses.

    He further said that linking the strike to electricity hikes with the wage determination was not fair to the negotiating parties.

  • Tinubu should have given us Democracy Day gift – NLC

    Tinubu should have given us Democracy Day gift – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said President Bola Tinubu should have used the opportunity of the 2024 Democracy Day celebration to harmonize the two minimum wage figures submitted to him and announced a new minimum wage in favour of workers in the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Acting President of NLC, Comrade Prince Adewale Adeyanju said this on Wednesday while reacting to President Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech in which he said an executive would soon be sent to the National Assembly (NASS) to enshrine what has been agreed upon to be paid workers as minimum wage.

    Recall that representative of the federal government in the Tripartite Committee had proposed N62,000 as minimum wage, at the end of the sitting of the committee, involving the Organised Private Sector (OPS).

    As Nigeria marked Democracy Day, the NLC said its demand for the new national minimum wage remains N250,000.

    According to Comrade Adeyanju, the union appreciates the President’s commitment to those fine democratic ideals which allowed the work of the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Negotiation Committee to proceed unhindered despite some hiccups.

    “We had expected Mr. President to have used this understanding as one of those who was in the vanguard of the struggle with us around the nation to rescue Nigeria from the hands of the military to harmonize the two figures submitted to him by the Tripartite Committee in favour of workers and masses. It would have been a fitting Democracy Day gift.

    “Our demand still remains N250,000 only and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process. We are, therefore, surprised at the submission of Mr President over a supposed agreement.

    “We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC. There was none and it is important that we let the President, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage,” he said.

    Adeyanju also noted that the union had not seen a copy of the document submitted to Mr President and it would not accept any doctored document.

    He, however, reaffirmed the union’s belief that the president on whose table the Tripartite Committee’s report presently resides would prepare an Executive Bill which content would reflect the true demand of Nigerian workers.

    “We think that this is an opportunity for him to demonstrate his love for Nigerian workers and masses.

    “That is by shunning the pieces of advice that may be coming from those whose intentions are continuously focused on hurting the poor and struggling workers of Nigeria.

    “Mr President should not allow these individuals and groups to sabotage his promise of lifting Nigerian workers out of poverty,” he said.

    According to him, the president’s advisers obviously did not tell him the truth that the leaders of the trade unions were intimidated and harassed.

    “It is, therefore, important that Mr President understands that we were threatened severally by his operatives perhaps without his consent.

    “Series of media propaganda calculated to intimidate and harass us were, and, are still being waged against the trade unions by senior officials of this government.

    “Fully armed soldiers surrounded us while we were in a negotiation with the government,” he alleged.

    He added the NLC remained assured that the president’s democratic credentials will come to the fore in favour of Nigerian workers and masses.

    He also noted that NLC never agreed on a five-year duration of the minimum wage Act though acknowledged that the president mentioned five years or less.

    According to Adeyanju, the union also agreed that inflation should be pegged at a level for certain amount to be agreed as minimum wage. This is to bring clarity to what the report should contain.

    “Once again, we reiterate that it will be extremely difficult for Nigerian workers to accept any nationa minimum wage figure that approximates to a starvation wage.

    “We cannot be working and yet remain in abject poverty.

    “We seek justice, equity and fairness for all Nigerians and this we hope would also drive the actions of Mr. President who promised a Living Wage to Nigerian workers.

    “This is an opportunity to show that he listens to Nigerians as he promised,” he said.

  • NLC responds to Tinubu’s claim on agreed minimum wage

    NLC responds to Tinubu’s claim on agreed minimum wage

    The organised Labour has reacted to claims by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that an agreement has been reached on new national minimum wage in his nationwide broadcast to mark Democracy Day.

    In his national broadcast to mark the 2024 Democracy Day in Abuja on Wednesday, Tinubu claimed that a consensus had been reached on the long-debated new minimum wage between the Federal Government and organised labour.

    Tinubu revealed that an executive bill will soon be sent to the National Assembly to formalise the new minimum wage agreement.

    However, in a statement on Wednesday, the acting President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, said there was no agreement reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage at the time negotiations ended on Friday, June 7, 2024.

    Adeyanju stated that rather, two figures such as N250,000 from Organised Labour and N62,000 from the government and Organised Private Sector, were arrived at and ought to have been submitted to the President.

    The labour leader asserted that anything to the contrary was not only doctored but won’t be accepted by Labour.

    The statement reads, “The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the federal government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components.

    “Our demand still remains N250,000, (two hundred and fifty thousand Naira) only and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.

    “We are therefore surprised at the submission of Mr. President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC. There was none and it is important that we let the President, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix-up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage.”

  • Why we didn’t call for strike – NLC President, Ajaero

    Why we didn’t call for strike – NLC President, Ajaero

    The Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) has revealed that they won’t embark on any strike action starting Tuesday to demand a new national minimum wage.

    .NLC President Joe Ajaero made this known during a press conference on Monday.

    Ajaero added that the figures the Tripartite Committee came up with are currently with President Bola Tinubu.

    According to him,  the N62,000 proposed by the government does not translate to labour accepting it as the new minimum wage.

    “We cannot declare strike now because the figures are with the President. We will wait for the President’s decision.

    “During the tenure of the immediate past president, the figure that was proposed to him was N27,000 by the tripartite committee but he increased it to N30,000. We are hopeful that this president will do the right thing,” Ajaero said.