By Kemi Olatunde
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Chairman, Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Ondo State, Abel Oloniyo has said that the workers in the state would not be exempted from the proposed nationwide strike if it eventually begins 12am tomorrow.
He made this known while speaking with The Hope yesterday in a telephone interview.
According to him, no state is expected to violate a national order, adding that all is set for the strike action to be effective.
Speaking further, he explained that one of the ways to guarantee the welfare of workers is by engaging in dialogue with government, saying “when that fails, we embark on strike.”
The nationwide strike is designed to force the Federal Government to announce its figure and ensure the completion of work on the new national minimum wage.
According to one of the national newspapers, it was a decision reached by leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC) after an emergency meeting in Lagos.
At a briefing in Lagos after an emergency meeting of its Central Working Committee, CWC, leaders of ULC said NLC, TUC and ULC had harmonised their separate demands to N65,000 and had informed the government and private sector employers through the tripartite minimum wage negotiating committee.
Until the harmonisation, while NLC and TUC demanded N56,500 minimum wage, NLC demanded N96, 000. ULC President, Joe Ajaero, said, yesterday, at a briefing: ”By this communiqué we order all our affiliates and state councils nationwide to move to the final level of alert in their preparation for the proposed nationwide strike.
”We urge Nigerian masses to stockpile food and other necessities, given the known intransigence and insensitivity this government has shown to our collective plight as a people.
”Furthermore, we wish to state that Nigerian workers will not only deny any government that denies us our living wages in the forthcoming general elections, but also set up active machinery to mobilise against their elections.”
