The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday slammed state governors that had failed to fully implement the new minimum wage and consequential salary adjustments despite remarkable improvements in their federation account allocations over the last two years.
The President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, condemned the affected governors for denying workers their constitutionally guaranteed entitlements at the 6th National Gender Conference organised by the NLC National Women Commission, alleging that some state governments only added a mere N5,000 to a worker’s monthly salary since the approval of the N70,000 minimum wage.
Speaking at the conference with the theme “Accelerate Action for Gender Equality: Imperative for a new NLC Gender Policy”, the labour union leader pointed out that current macroeconomic realities in the economy showed that many workers were earning less now in income even with the introduction of the new minimum wage as tax deductions and surging inflation continued to take huge toll on their real incomes.
Ajaero said: “The salaries of some workers are currently below the amount they were receiving before the new minimum wage of N70,000 was implemented, as a result of taxes and inflation.
“The issue of implementing a minimum wage is the worst crime I have ever seen. In some states, you just notice N5,000 on top of your salary. So what is the essence of consequential adjustment?
“At the NLC level, we have negotiated for N70,000. At the level of consequential adjustment, the NLC was not contacted. So, I wonder why workers should be short changed, I do not understand”, the NLC leader added.
He lamented that the N70,000 wage was no longer adequate to sustain the average Nigerian worker due to rising electricity tariffs and inflation.
Ajaero expatiated: “If you want to be a serious worker and go to work for 24 days or 20 days a month, the N70,000 will disappear, that’s a fact today. School fees seem to be rising, transportation is worse, inflation is going high. These are issues that confront us as workers.
“So many people are lamenting in their closets about how they implemented the minimum wage,” he added.
Speaking at the event, Chairperson of the NLC Women’s Commission, Hajia Salamatu Aliu, who was represented by her deputy, Mrs. Deborah Yusuf, noted that globally women continued to face discrimination, harassment, and limited opportunities in the workplace and society.
She said: “Women are being relegated to lower-status and lower-paid jobs and under-represented in leadership and decision-making processes and bodies. The NLC has deliberately taken progressive steps in promoting the leadership role of women in various spheres.
“These are part of the strategies for recognising and promoting the active participation of women in the trade unions as consciously stipulated in the NLC Gender Policy.
“Currently, the NLC is in the process of updating and finalising the review of the Gender Policy, in line with current gender trends”, Aliu added.
