Labour Union Disagrees with Gov Udom’s new minimum wage, says there is no agreement
Grace Udoh Uyo
The Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress,(NLC) Comrade Sunny James Akwa Ibom State Chapter on planet radio programme of January 22, 2020 has said that the press release issued by the Head of Service announcing the decision by the AKSG to effect payment of the National minimum wage in the state is nothing but another political strategy to scam civil servants in the state and score some cheap political points.
It would be recalled that Prior to 2019 general elections the Governor told a mammoth Crowd that all what he is waiting for concerning the new minimum wage is for the federal Government of Nigeria to finish negotiations with labour and that he will be the first governor to pay the new minimum wage. Count down to January, months after the new minimum wage was being signed into law, our Governor didn’t pay and just yesterday we saw press release flying up and down about the Governor approving the new minimum wage with one month arrears.
The NLC State Chairman said “There is no agreement of any kind between the state government and the Labour unions on the issue. such abracadabra by the government on the workers is rather too cheap and it is not done anywhere in the country”
The Chairman added that “The government action is in contravention of the extant Labour laws in the country that stipulate that wages can only be fixed through collective bargaining in line with Conventions 87 and 89 of the International Labour Organisation which Nigeria is a signatory to.
He went on to say that the last meeting held between the Labour Union and the representative of the Governor last week thursday along side the head of service didn’t reach any agreement with the state government concerning the new minimum wage in the state, and that it is only labour that has the right to announce what has been bargained with government and not the Governor coming up with press release on what’s not true”
He further stressed that what the Governor wants to pay the workers is far below what was agreed upon during the last meeting on Thursday.