Minimum wage, maximum trouble

What started off on a friendly note in 2017 between the Federal Government and organised labour with the constitution of a 30-man tripartite committee to negotiate and arrive at a new national minimum wage for workers in the country is turning a big fight.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, labour is commencing full blast nationwide strike from Tuesday, November 6, that may further jolt the already shaky Nigerian economy, as public and private offices including banks, insurance companies, airlines, commercial transport operators, filling stations may be forced to shut down their operations.

Although the minimum wage is mainly to the benefit of public sector workers, private sector unions including those in the oil gas, power, aviation, manufacturing and beverage, financial and banking have signed on to join the strike in solidarity with their colleagues in the public sector even as the three labour centres- Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and United Labour Congress (ULC) led respectively by Ayuba Wabba, Bobboi Kaigama and Joe Ajaero say there is no going back on N30,000 as new minimum wage.

Their demand runs contrary to the position of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) which rose from a meeting in Abuja insisting that state governments can only pay N22,500. On the other hand, Chris Ngige, minister of Labour and Employment, has hinted of N24,000 from the Federal Government. But organized labour is taking none of these, as they are insisting that the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government had concluded its negotiation between October 4 and 5, 2018 and arrived at N30,000 and therefore labour is not entering into any fresh negotiation with the government.

The position of labour has been backed by the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) whose Director General, Segun Oshinowo, on Wednesday, issued a statement in which he confirmed that the tripartite agreement of which the members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) were a part, actually concluded negotiation on N30,000 although this may not have been acceptable to the government.

Oshionowo, who took on Muheeba Dankaka, the president of Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), expressed NECA’s utter disappointment in the earlier statement by NACCIMA’s representative on the outcome of the works of the tripartite committee on the national minimum wage.

Dankaka had in a letter to Ama Pepple, chairperson of the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage, dissociated NACCIMA from the position of the OPS.

But Oshinowo said: “Muheeba Dankaka was indeed absent from the sitting of the tripartite committee on the 4th and 5th September, 2018 when conclusions were reached. How then could she have been part of the discussions that led to the agreement?

The NECA DG further said: “The OPS representatives had consulted among themselves and were in touch with their primary constituencies through the process of negotiation which culminated in the agreement of N30, 000.00 as the National Minimum Wage (NMW).”

Oshinowo added that “Dankaka’s letter to the committee chairperson smirks, not only of mischief, but of utter ignorance on many fundamental issues and processes of the NMW fixing mechanism”. He noted that “at no time did NACCIMA proposed a contrary figure to that of the entire OPS which includes NECA, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), all through the works of the committee”.

Oshinowo regretted that NACCIMA, through its representative, Dankaka, had unwittingly allowed herself to undermine the solidarity of the OPS at a time like this when integrity, candour and credibility would go a long way in resolving the burning issue of the national minimum wage conundrum.

“The other arms of the OPS (NECA, MAN and NASME) are on the same page and undivided on this matter. The NMW committee has indeed concluded its works on September 5, 2018 on the note that it would only reconvene on a date to be given by the Presidency to submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari. The committee at plenary had concluded on the note of recommending N30, 000 as the NMW, while noting the Federal Government’s position of N24, 000″

Indeed, abour seems to be getting wider support for the minimum wage increase, as the National Association of the Nigerian Students (NANS) has pledged its support.

According to Danielson Bamidele, NANS President, who issued a statement in Abuja on Friday, “the disturbing issues of the moment ranging from arbitrary increase in tuition fees, lack of adequate attention to education and poor funding of education.

“Also, the near absence of student welfare on campuses or welfare facilities and schemes for students by various governments, insecurity and among others; and in all these, students are the worst casualties, directly or indirectly.”

Bamidele noted that under the alarming atmosphere, some governors have continued to arbitrarily increase the tuition fees of the state owned educational institutions.

According to him, students are tired of dropping out of school and neglect of the education sector.

He said that NANS was ready and set to join forces with the organised labour to rescue the dying workers, saying that reasonable and acceptable increment in workers’ wages was long overdue. “NAN wished to state clearly that this issue of N30, 000 minimum wage is a challenge and we therefore demand that government and the Private Sector should immediately accept the meager N30,000 as minimum wage.

“Throwing helpless Nigerians into untold hardship that will be occasioned by the impending strike is totally needless as negotiation has been concluded,” he said.

As things stand, labour pushing ahead for the strike as the NLC, ULC, TUC at their joint Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Friday, said all arrangements have been concluded in collaboration with their civil society allies.

Wabba, NLC president, who read the communiqué of the meeting, advised affiliate members of the three centres to commence preparation to ensure the strike was effective.

Wabba said the members should be steadfast and dedicated to achieve their objective as workers would never receive improved welfare except through struggle. He also said that the ‘no work no pay’ rule by the government was wrong as it negates the labour law and international convention to which Nigeria was a signatory.

He urged private employers to cooperate with labour for the strike to be successful.

Joe Ajaero, ULC president, reiterated that labour would not hesitate to stop the strike if the government fulfilled its N30,000 minimum wage demand. Ajaero said that labour would continue to meet and negotiate with the government until midnight of the expiration of the strike.

He however, said that the labour body had not received any court injunction to stop the strike contrary to any report.

“We are not aware of any court injunction. We will not discuss it because it is speculative. We advise that the minimum wage committee be allowed to submit its report,” Ajaero said.

Kaigama, TUC president, said the door of the organised labour remained open for discussion and advised that the report reached by the committee be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Labour has said negotiation on the issue resumes today despite an injunction of the National Industrial Court (NIC) restraining the organised labour from embarking on strike.

Chris Ngige, in a statement by Samuel Olowokere, director of press in the ministry of labour and employment, said that the conciliation meeting involving labour and the OPS government scheduled for today (Sunday, November 4, 2018) at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation by 6:00pm will still hold.

This will be followed, on Monday, November 5, 2018 at 11:00 a.m, by the meeting of the national tripartite minimum wage committee at the same venue.

JOSHUA BASSEY