Review: Nigeria Labour Congress Demand for the Review of the National Minimum Wage and General Wage
NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS DEMAND FOR THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE AND GENERAL WAGE REVIEW
Introduction
Today, Nigerians who are lucky to have jobs are finding it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to survive on their monthly pay. The major reason for this is that the pay of the Nigerian worker is not only one of the lowest in the world; it has also not improved as it should in the face of changes in market conditions. Workers in the public sector are particularly worse off. As huge revenues have continued to be acquired from the sweat of workers, the pay and conditions of workers have continued to deteriorate; workers have increasingly been excluded from the wealth created by their labour. In Nigeria, the difference in pay between managers and workers is not only one of the highest in the world: out of every N1 paid as wages, managers collect more than 80 kobo while workers receieve less than 20 kobo; the difference has been increasing over the years. At the same time, owners and managers of banks, top government officials and members of the political class have seen their pay and wealth swell ostronomically while workers have had to survive on starvation wages. Workers can no longer survive on what they earn; the situation is made worse by the fact that those who work also have to support family members who form part of the huge army of the unemployed. It has become crystal clear that there is an urgent need for an upward review of the national minimum wage and an upward general review of wages and salaries. History of wage reviews fought by workers This is not the first time that workers would be asking for a general upward review of wages and an increase in the National Minimum Wage. Between 1945 when workers staged the famous 45 days general strike for a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and 2007, when the demand won by workers for a 25% general wage through the Ernest Shonekan Wage Consolidation Committee was arbitrarily cut down to 15%
Introduction
Today, Nigerians who are lucky to have jobs are finding it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to survive on their monthly pay. The major reason for this is that the pay of the Nigerian worker is not only one of the lowest in the world; it has also not improved as it should in the face of changes in market conditions. Workers in the public sector are particularly worse off. As huge revenues have continued to be acquired from the sweat of workers, the pay and conditions of workers have continued to deteriorate; workers have increasingly been excluded from the wealth created by their labour. In Nigeria, the difference in pay between managers and workers is not only one of the highest in the world: out of every N1 paid as wages, managers collect more than 80 kobo while workers receieve less than 20 kobo; the difference has been increasing over the years. At the same time, owners and managers of banks, top government officials and members of the political class have seen their pay and wealth swell ostronomically while workers have had to survive on starvation wages. Workers can no longer survive on what they earn; the situation is made worse by the fact that those who work also have to support family members who form part of the huge army of the unemployed. It has become crystal clear that there is an urgent need for an upward review of the national minimum wage and an upward general review of wages and salaries. History of wage reviews fought by workers This is not the first time that workers would be asking for a general upward review of wages and an increase in the National Minimum Wage. Between 1945 when workers staged the famous 45 days general strike for a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and 2007, when the demand won by workers for a 25% general wage through the Ernest Shonekan Wage Consolidation Committee was arbitrarily cut down to 15%