We can’t wait forever on minimum wage – NLC
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Wednesday that it was running out of patience with the government over the issue of new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, saying cannot wait indefinitely for the government to respond at its own time.
Speaking at the 4th NLC National Gender Conference in Abuja, President of the Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said Nigerian workers were getting tired of government’s delay tactics in constituting a tripartite committee to negotiate a new minimum wage for the country and ask the government to act immediately.
Wabba said that despite the fact that the minimum wage was due for renegotiation after 5 years, the Buhari administration was dragging its feet in constituting a tripartite committee as is the practice to negotiate a new minimum wage.
He said further that “against the background of the harsh economic times and the impact on the working people, we cannot wait indefinitely for the government to respond at its own time. Though we have been told by the administration that the panel will be constituted, we enjoined the government to urgently sort out whatever is the constraint it is facing and act on the matter before we are forced to take actions that may be unpleasant.”
According to him, “It is no longer news that our Country is in a severe recession, and prices of virtually all consumable and non-consumable items have skyrocketed. In the last twelve or more months, the inflationary trend in the economy has gone over the roof, and the mass of our people, the salaried and the teeming millions of the unemployed, are facing very difficult times.
“Amidst these difficulties, we have contended with a number of state governments that have misplaced priorities and have regularly refused to pay workers in the State payroll, their salaries as at when due.
“Similarly pension, of retired public servants have gone for several months, and in some cases, years unpaid. We have over the last 15 months fought these State governments to pay up these outstanding wages and pension liabilities they owe workers. We will continue to do this till all salaries and pensions across the country are fully paid up.”
Wabba stressed the commitment of the Congress to promoting gender equity and gender participation in the affairs of trade unions in the country.He said: “the Congress has over the past three decades worked to promote women participation and involvement in the affairs of the trade union movement, in industrial unions and State Councils of the NLC nationwide.
He said: “The Congress has over the past three decades worked to promote women participation and involvement in the affairs of the trade union movement, in industrial unions and State Councils of the NLC nationwide.
“Against the background of the male-dominated nature of our society and the trade union movement, gender issues are still challenging issues within our movement; women workers are still very much disadvantaged within our organisations. In the world of work, where both men and women are in employment, the chances are that women still suffer more discrimination than their male counterparts.
“From a position where we used to have an almost all-male executive in most of our unions, the NLC gender equity policy has enabled the Congress and virtually all of its affiliates to have increased women representation at the level of leadership in all their structures.
“To ensure that these changes are sustainable, the NLC constitution and that of affiliate unions were amended to ensure the inclusion of women representations at leadership levels.
“At the NLC level, not only is the Chairperson of the National Women Commission now automatically a vice president of the NLC, in the 2007 delegates Conference of the Congress, two ex-officio positions were created at the level of National Administrative Council (NAC) of NLC, to be occupied by women.
“As a trade union movement, we need to intensify our struggle for gender justice and gender equality and link it up to building our organisations. We have to advocate and ensure that our government enforces better gender policies, health care and increase access to services to women as well as making the workplace women friendly.
“We must deliberately support women leaders to build their capacity to meet up with the challenges of unions and the complexity in the world of work. We need to train women leaders on issues of the economic and policy debates, collective agreements and legislation, especially those that affect women. We need to strengthen the National Women Commission to contribute and engage in the issues affecting women generally and national development.”
Wabba stressed that in recent times, a lot of progress has been made in protecting and promoting women’s right, adding that according to UN statistics, a majority of the 1.3 billion who are absolute poor in the world are women.
He said further that over the years, the International Women’s Day has been recognised as a time to reflect on the progress made on women advancement, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.
The NLC, he said is committed to working with the Nigerian government in the spirit of achieving the SDG goals of ending poverty, promoting inclusive and reducing inequality and achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.
Chairperson of the NLC Women Commission, Comrade Offiong said the conference was aimed at gender mainstreaming in the Trade Unions; assess the level of implementation of the NLC Gender Equity Policy in the affiliate Unions; Identify and map out strategies for tackling the challenges facing women in the workplaces & Trade Unions; strategize on approaches and techniques of strengthening women participation in the Trade Unions and elect a new leadership for the NLC National Women Commission.
She said even though the millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about gender equality and women emancipation, women still suffer from gender discrimination, stereotypes and abuses and call on the NLC and Affiliate unions to continue to be the voice of change for women not only in the trade unions but the larger society.
She expressed concern over the safety of the girl child and women generally which she said has became of a major concern to all especially the working women who due to circumstance of their working life are forced to leave the care of their children to other persons, while the children become victims of rape and all forms of abuses.
She, however, want employers of labour in the country to as a matter of urgency and in the spirit of corporate social responsibility, set-up child-care facilities in and around workplaces to safeguard these innocent and vulnerable children while their mothers are engaged in their legitimate employment.
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