News

Minimum Wage: Again, strike looms in Kwara as NLC holds crucial meeting this weeks

By Mumini AbdulKareem
Labour Unions in Kwara will this week finalize plans whether to embark on another industrial action or not in line with the call by the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for states yet to enjoy the new minimum wage from their governors to down tool.
The development is coming against the backdrop of directive for their members in about eighteen states affected across the federation including Kwara to commence strike action.
To this end, the labour unions have scheduled yet another meeting to deliberate on the issue before coming out with a position this week, union leaders who spoke with National Pilot last night revealed.
Speaking on the issue on Sunday night in a telephone conversation, the Kwara State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Isa Ore said “We will be having a meeting on the issue this week to decide on our position.
“There is going to be a communiqué after the meeting. Right now, I am still in Abuja and will be at the state headquarters tomorrow towards that.
Also the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Olu Adewara in his comment noted that the state is in a unique situation over the issue.
He said, “Kwara is part of the states that have not implemented the new minimum wage. I am the Auditor for the state NLC and also chairman of NUT and in all our bargaining processes with government, they have always been playing pranks with us and not been frank regarding the payment of the wage.
“You know the Governor went to the House of Assembly that they have included the new wage in the budget but what kind of inclusion is that. You have not concluded with labour, we have a table that is going to be jointly agreed upon and signed which will consider the financial implication of the agreement which will then determine what to present to the House. But all of these have not been done and we don’t know where the man got what he presented to the House from. And even the lawmakers that …I don’t know.
“The NLC has been taken to court by the government over the issue and that is why I said the case of Kwara is unique. We went on the first strike and the court case is on now and we are in the process of ligation.
“The directive that those states that have not been enjoying minimum wage should proceed on strike, we have gone on strike already and now in court. So we have communicated the order of the national body to our lawyer who is to understudy the situation in comparison with our case and see whether we will be able to go ahead with the general instruction or we will continue first with the case in court, he added.
So we will are meeting Tuesday Wednesday for an executive meeting to hear from our lawyer what will be our position.

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button