As negotiations over the new national minimum wage between the organized labor union leaders and the federal government stalled last Friday, an indefinite strike was soon declared, marking a significant setback in efforts to secure a new monthly take-home pay for Nigerian workers
“This strike is due to the failure of the federal government to conclude negotiations on a new national minimum wage and reverse the hike in the electricity tariff,” Joe Ajaero, the NLC President, disclosed in a press conference. He said the strike would begin by midnight on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
Not even the intervention made by the National Assembly’s leadership could salvage the situation.
Following the breakdown of negotiations, critical infrastructures, including the national grid and Nigerian ports were shut down in compliance with the NLC/TUC directives, thereby undermining national security and the economy in the early hours of Monday, June 3, 2024.
The indefinite strike has also grounded activities in most tertiary institutions and hospitals across the country as workers heed the order of the union leaders.
Labour playing politics?
On its part, the federal government, through the Information and National Orientation Minister, Alhaji Muhammed Idris, reiterated that the demands of the union leaders were unrealistic and could cripple the country’s economy.
“The Federal Government’s new minimum wage proposal represents a 100 percent increase from the existing minimum wage in 2019.” Labour, however, wanted N494,000, which would increase by 1,547 percent on the existing wage”, a statement by the minister’s media aide, Rabiu Ibrahim, noted. “The sum of the N494,000 national minimum wage that labour is seeking would cumulatively amount to the sum of the N9.5 trillion bill to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he stated.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser Information and Strategy to President Tinubu equally frowned at the questionable industrial action championed by TUC and NLC.
“It’s saddening that Labour could go to this extreme. But it is not surprising to the perceptive minds. Labour is harming the Nigerian people they claim to be fighting for. Today, many sick Nigerians could not access medical care at government hospitals. Not even those with critical medical conditions. It appears labour is playing politics by other means.” He said on Monday.
‘A back-and-forth negotiation’
The current minimum wage of N30,000 was supposed to last until April this year, but the inability of both the government and the union leaders to reach a common ground has extended its lifespan. Labour leaders contend that the new need for a new national minimum wage has become imperative given the expiration of the 2019 minimum wage and the fallout that accompanied fuel subsidy removal, unification of exchange, and the hike in the electricity tariff.
Both the NLC and TUC declared that their demand of N615,000 was premised on the cost of living across the country. While the federal government arrived at N60,000 as its proposed minimum wage, the labor leaders insisted on N494,000.
‘A dangerous tactic’
Analysts argue that a labor union’s indefinite strike falls within the legal scope, but they caution against using these privileges to compromise national security and the economy. They added that shutting down the national grid in addition to the airports is not a way to win the sympathies of Nigerians who believe in their struggle.
“The new national minimum wage demand is a noble course, but grounding the economy or stopping students from writing the ongoing West African Examination Council exam is a dangerous tactic whose adverse effect can only be imagined,” Isa Lukman, a public commentator, posited. He went on to call on both the government and the labour leaders to go back to the negotiation table, as that would help the ailing economy bounce back rather than adopting an eye-for-an-eye approach. “You don’t throw the baby with the bathe water” another analyst Chris David contended, “an indefinite strike is not in anyone’s interest and efforts must be made to return to the negotiation table otherwise, this whole fight by the union leaders will end up hurting the workers they wants to help”.
