The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has hinted of a looming industrial action over accumulated arrears of the new minimum wage.
The threat is coming just as the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, confirmed at the weekend that junior workers employed by the federal government have started receiving the 30, 000 new minimum wage.
Ngige disclosed that the payment to levels 1-6 commenced last month.
Chairman of TUC, Enugu state chapter, Comrade Igbokwe Chukwuma Igbokwe, however, intimated that the strike is looming since negotiations with the federal government on the implementation of the new minimum wage has hit the rocks.
He said the federal government signed the new minimum wage bill into law in April and the arrears have been running.
Speaking on the deadlocked negotiation, Igbokwe said arrears are not negotiable, stressing that the federal government and other tiers of government cannot afford not to pay the arrears of the new minimum wage.
“Arrears are not negotiable. You don’t negotiate arrears. The federal government, the minister of labour has said that arrears would be paid whenever the negotiations are completed. They are not denying the fact that they will pay the arrears,” he said.
Igbokwe intimated that labour might embark on strike soon unless President Buhari does the needful for labour to sheath their sword.
He said since the Joint Public Service Negotiation Council (JPSNC) could not agree with the government on the mode of implementation of the new minimum wage, labour will go into trenches which could result in strike.
“Normally, trade unions are run by organs and you know that the JPSNC is made up eight unions, the core public service. Since the negotiations have failed the leadership of the unions, they are returning back to their unions.
“We are returning back to the labour centres for the purposes of taking a decision on the next line of action. Of course, you know that when labour says they are meeting for the next line of action, you know what it means.
“We have said that it is only the president that can stop our next line of action. We are going to look at options available to us because in trade union actions, we have various options. So, we are going to meet. The National Executive Council of TUC and NLC are going to meet to take a decision.
“So, we are waiting for the national leadership of the congress to take a decision and then invite all the 36 states and FCT for a meeting for a decision to be taken on how the strike will go.
“If it is going to be a strike, it may be a warning strike, because don’t forget that we suspended a strike action. We did not call off the strike. Of course, you know the difference between suspending a strike and calling off a strike. When you suspend, you can resume at any time, but when you call off, you need to start afresh. We suspended the strike, we did not call off the strike,” he stated.
