Worried that President Goodluck Jonathan has not signed the Minimum Wage Act into law, the National Administration Council (NAC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will meet today to decide on the next line of action, even as labour leaders insist on their “no wage, no elections in April” stand.Meanwhile LEADERSHIP also gathered that while Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are planning to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan this week on the matter, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has concluded on a meeting to strategise on the same issue
A reliable source at the NLC told our reporter that “Labour will surprise those who believe that it’s a toothless bulldog because of the peaceful nature of the movement. We will ensure elections do not hold since workers will be involved in all the processes.”
He added that it was sad that government at this time would want to take them for granted. “We heard the president had signed the Minimum Wage Act but later we also learnt the bill was still with the National Assembly. We don’t know what they think they are doing but we are also aware that both the executive and legislature pledged to fast-track the process.”
When asked what the movement would do in case Jonathan failed to sign the Act, deputy president of the NLC Comrade Promise Adewusi said the congress NAC would be meeting today to review the situation which, he said, “for us we will stop at nothing to ensure workers start enjoying the new wage.”
He said that the congress requested a meeting with President Jonathan in the next few days to find a lasting solution to the matter, and called on eminent Nigerians including royal fathers to intervene with a view to avoiding any industrial action.
According to Comrade Adewusi, “we are having NAC tomorrow (today) to review the situation and come up with strategies to ensure the bill is signed into law before the elections. We have also requested to pay the president a visit in the next few days in connection with this.”
On his part, deputy secretary of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Comrade Musa Foly said that the congress would be meeting on the matter by Wednesday “because the issue of minimum wage is a serious business for the organised labour.”
Comrade Foly further said that the reason for the meeting was to fine-tune the next line of action to ensure the Minimum Wage Act was signed and at the same time implemented.
The deputy president of the NLC and national president of the Nigeria Civil service Union (NCSU), Comrade Kiri Mohammed, said that the workers were serious on the no minimum wage, no election “because the issue has been dragging for two years now.”
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