BARRING any last-minute change of plan, the workers in the Federal Capital Territory, Cross River, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Zamfara states may down tools on Monday (today) following the failure of the state authorities to negotiate the payment of the N70,000 new minimum wage.
Though the implementation panels set up by the concerned states have been meeting with labour leaders in a bid to ward off the strike action, the various state chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress have expressed their readiness to embark on a strike from today.
The FCT Council of the NLC had earlier directed the workers in the six Area Councils to embark on an indefinite strike on December 1 until further directives were issued.
This was contained in a letter signed by the Chairman of the FCT Council of the NLC, Stephen Knabayi, on Saturday.
This followed the directive of the NLC leadership to workers in 14 states and the FCT to embark on industrial action from Sunday over the non-implementation of the new minimum wage.
Knabayi faulted the failure of the area council chairmen to respond to the demand for the implementation of the minimum wage, despite receiving the communique of the National Executive Council of the NLC dated November 14, 2024.
The Nasarawa State chapter of the NLC on Sunday declared its readiness to declare a strike if the minimum wage was not paid.
The state NLC Chairman, Ismaila Okoh, disclosed that a notice of strike had been issued to all the labour members.
He, however, revealed that the Nasarawa State government had reached an agreement with the union to pay N70,500 to the workers, adding that no document had been signed regarding the implementation.
He said, “We have notified all our members to embark on strike tomorrow (today) because of the non-implementation of the national minimum wage in the state.
“Although the minimum wage committee set up by the state government has agreed to start paying N70,500, no document has been signed to that effect up till this moment.
“So, we are observing the situation to see if the documents on the minimum wage will be signed before tomorrow morning. However, if nothing is done between now and midnight, our members will have to fully comply with the strike as they were directed.”
To avert a shutdown, the Kaduna State Government said it had commenced the implementation of the new national minimum wage, with the least-paid worker in the state receiving N72,000 as gross salary in November.
This newspaper reports that many states agreed to pay above the N70,000 minimum wage, with Kaduna State offering its workers N72,000 as minimum wage.
Despite the positive development, the state chapter of the NLC confirmed its planned strike.
The state’s chairman of the NLC, Ayuba Suleiman, said the workers would embark on a strike as directed by the NLC leadership.
When asked if the NLC was prepared to embark on a strike, Suleiman replied, “Yes, we are set for the strike.”
However, a statement on Sunday by Ibraheem Musa, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Uba Sani, insisted it was “a misrepresentation for the NLC to claim that the state has defaulted in the payment of the new minimum wage.”
Musa noted that the state government had complied with the letter of the National Minimum Wage Law.
“His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, has complied with the spirit and letter of the National Minimum Wage Law, by paying the lowest paid civil servant N72,000 last month,” he said.