Minimum wage: Organised labour holds mass mobilisation

*Denies embarking on strike today Leadership of the organised labour Monday said it will today, (Tuesday) stage a nationwide mobilisation rally to sensitise members against federal government’s action and not embarking on strike as being misrepresented in the media. The Secretary General of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Peter Eso, in a press statement said that the labour union is fully mobilising its member associations nationwide to raise the people’s consciousness before locking down the nation. According to the scribe, “the NLC would like to use this opportunity to clarify some issues regarding the proposed strike action. Let me state here that the Organised Labour, has noticed in some section of the news media, information about the proposed strike action, which largely misrepresented our action plan in reaction to the delay in transmitting the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee on a new National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly by President Mohammadu Buhari”. The labour union noted that the National Executive Council of NLC met on 17th of December last year and directed that it holds nationwide mobilisation of workers and allies if by 31st December 2018 the bill on the National Minimum Wage was not transmitted to the National Assembly. “This is because the recommendation has yet to be sent to the National Assembly to be passed as an Act of Parliament. We immediately announced then that on Tuesday, 8th January 2019, there will be a nationwide mass mobilisation and protests simultaneously across all states in Nigeria. This does not translate to a strike. “It is on record that each time we had cause to embark on a national strike, we say so publicly without any equivocation. We still don’t understand where the story about a strike commencing tomorrow came from. “Already, all our State Councils, affiliate unions and allies in other pro people mass organisations now popularly referred to as Civil Society Organisations have been fully informed and mobilised to ensure the success of tomorrow’s mass protests in all the states and the Federal Capital Territory. “When a date is decided for the commencement of the strike subsequently, we will inform the public appropriately”. Idu Jude, Abuja