Ajaero-led NLC faction demands N90, 000 as minimum wage

A faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has dissociated itself from the N56,000 minimum wage proposed by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and the Ayuba Wabba led NLC, saying it is instead pegging its minimum wage demand t N90,000.

According to the Joe Ajaero led NLC faction, the N56,000 being demanded by TUC and the Wabba led NLC was not in tune with economic realities faced by workers.

Factional President, Joe Ajaero, stated this at a pre-May Day symposium, titled, “Inclusive Socio-Economic Space for Sustainable Development”, adding that his faction of NLC was not part of the N56,000 proposal because the cost of living today and other socio-economic realities workers were faced with makes the proposal off the mark.

He aslo said his faction of the NLC was demanding N90,000 national minimum wage based on the current exchange rate, noting that should the exchange rate go above N500 per dollar, NLC would demand for more than N90,000.

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He said: “No sacrifice is too much to liberate the Nigerian workers. Every year, we go to the stadium to salute those who have been enslaving us, those who have refused to pay us minimum living national wage. But since last year, we have been forced to gather under the bridge of the National Stadium, which we have named `Workers Freedom Square’. We will gather, match through the streets, take the May Day to the real owners, the Nigerian workers and masses, to tell them that there is no electricity despite the astronomical tariff, that there is no fuel, that there are no good roads, that public universities are being closed down, that there are no jobs and so on and so forth.

“Few days ago, we were told that N56.000 minimum wage proposal has been sent to the government. We want to tell you that we are not part of that because even as they were sending the proposal, they equally said that they know that the economy is bad. By the time you say that, it means that the proposal is dead on arrival. We all know that the current minimum wage is less that the electricity bill paid by most workers. On our part, we are demanding N90,000 minimum wage. The N90,000 we are demanding is with a proviso, depending on the exchange rate. If the exchange rate goes above N500 a dollar, we will ask for more.”

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