Workers Oppose the Federal Government's $62,000 “Starvation Wage”

The Federal Government's planned minimum salary of #62,000 has been met with resistance from Organized Labour, which has called it a “starvation wage.”

Organized Labour rejects Federal Government's proposed minimum wage of #62,000, calling it a 'starvation wage'. Labour demands #250,000 living wage, threatens to resume nationwide strike if demands not met by Tuesday.

Organized labour, which is affiliated with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), issued a warning, stating that its organs will convene to determine whether to resume the statewide industrial strike if the Federal Government and National Assembly do not respond to worker demands by Tuesday.

Labour would take a stand when the Federal Government's one-week grace period expires at midnight on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, according to NLC Assistant General Secretary Chris Onyeka, who made this revelation during a session on Channels Television on Monday morning.

“The Federal Government and the National Assembly have the call now. It is not our call. Our demand is there for them (the government) to look at and send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, and for the National Assembly to look at what we have demanded, the various facts of the law, and then come up with a National Minimum Wage Act that meets our demands.

“If that does not meet our demand, we have given the Federal Government a one-week notice to look at the issues and that one week expires tomorrow (Tuesday). If after tomorrow, we have not seen any tangible response from the government, the organs of the Organised Labour will meet to decide on what next,” Onyeka said.

Speaking about the potential response from Organized Labour in the event that the government demands N62,000, Onyeka stated, “It was clear what we said. We said we are relaxing a nationwide indefinite strike. It's like putting a pause on it. So, if you put a pause on something and that organs that govern us as trade unions decide that we should remove that pause, it means that we go back to what was in existence.”

He emphasized that the Organization of Labour will not accept a minimum wage of ¥62,000 or N100,000 as the “starvation wage” for Nigerian workers. Instead, they demand N250,000 as the living wage for an average Nigerian worker, as they did at the last meeting of the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage on Friday.

“We have never considered accepting #62,000 or any other wage that we know is below what we know is able to take Nigerian workers home. We will not negotiate a starvation wage.

“We have never contemplated ¥100,000 let alone of ¥62,000. We are still at N250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation.

“We are not just driven by frivolities, but the realities of the marketplace; realities of things we buy every day; bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that,” he said.