By Abiola Olawale
The organized labour has commenced a nationwide strike today, Monday, June 3, 2024.
Despite a four-hour meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly on Sunday, June 2, in Abuja, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) insisted on embarking on the nationwide to press home its demand for a credible living wage.
The New Diplomat reports that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, held a meeting with the president of the NLC, Joe Ajaero and president of TUC, Festus Osifo.
However, it appears that the meeting was fruitless, as the unions have kicked-off the planned strike.
Already, Nigerians are experiencing power outages, as workers of organised labour shut down the national grid.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced that the total blackout experienced in most parts of the country is due to the complete shutdown of Nigeria’s power grid by workers of the labour unions.
Also, it was gathered that the strike has grounded the activities in the National Assembly, with the second gate to the complex blocked with two 16-seater buses.
Besides, the gate to the annex building, which would have been the alternative entrance for workers, was blocked by officials of both unions on the ground, to implement and monitor the strike.
It would be recalled that the labour unions said the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 can no longer cater to the well-being of an average Nigerian worker.
Labour later handed the Federal Government a May 31 deadline for the new minimum wage.
Subsequently on May 31, the workers’ organs declared a nationwide strike, beginning from Monday, June 3, over government committee’s inability to agree on a new minimum wage.
During the failed talks with the government, labour rejected three offers, the latest being N60,000. Both the TUC and NLC then pulled out of negotiations, insisting on ₦497,000 as the new minimum.
