Labour to issue strike ultimatim in defaulting states

By Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja
Friday, 19 Aug 2011

NLC President, Abdulwahed Omar

The National Executive Committee of the Nigeria Labour Congress has granted approval to the state councils of the congress to issue ultimatum to go on strike on the non implementation of the 2011 Minimum Wage Act. 

The President of the NLC, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar, who spoke to journalists after the meeting which lasted from 12.30 to 4.10pm, said the state councils needn’t notify the national secretariat of the NLC to go on strike. 

He said while he had no doubt on the readiness of the Federal Government to pay the new wage, some state governments like Plateau had come out to say that they were not going to implement the new law. 

He added that the national leadership of the NLC was prepared to mobilise Nigerian workers from across to ground such states which had refused to implement the new wage. 

According to him, the labour leadership has categorised the 36 states of the federation into three on the implementation of the wage law. 

He said the states were those that had concluded negotiations and were ready to pay; those where negotiations were ongoing and those that did not even respond to the call to negotiate with state representatives of labour. 

He said while the membership of the NEC commended states that had concluded negotiations, it was resolved that those where negotiations were ongoing were given ultimatum to conclude by the end of August. 

He said, “NEC agreed that all those states where negotiations are going on should conclude them before the end of the month. 

“It was also resolved that immediate ultimatum for strike is given in states where negotiations have not taken place and there will no need for them to call NEC before going on strike. 

“And I must add that where the strike is not very effective, the entire congress would not hesitate to follow up, without ruling out invasion of the state with workers from other states until the minimum wage is paid.” 

Omar added that labour and the civil service coalition were committed to ensuring not just the continuation of the ongoing probe into the privatisation of public enterprises by the Senate but to see to it that the probe was taken to a logical conclusion. 

He said LASECO would set up a committee to sensitise Nigerians and ensure that there was probity and accountability in the process. 

The NLC leader said labour and the civil society organisation would make sure that all such privatised investments were probed and those found guilty of sharp practices were brought to justice.

SOURCE: PUNCH Newspaper, 19 August 2011. http://punchontheweb.com