The NLC has warned of a potential one-month strike in response to purported plans to decentralize minimum wage negotiations.
Joe Ajaero, the president of the NLC, sounded the alarm on Tuesday, July 16, asserting that the move violates the principles of equity enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.
According to Ajaero, shifting the minimum wage from the federal government’s exclusive list to the concurrent list, enabling governors to negotiate it, would result in substandard wages akin to slave labor.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced intentions to initiate a nationwide strike and protests lasting one month, in response to proposals to decentralize negotiations on a new minimum wage.
The union raised the alarm amid ongoing new minimum wage negotiation involving the federal government, organised labour and organised private sector.
NLC president Joe Ajaero addressed attendees at the 67th Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association Annual General Meeting in Lagos. He voiced his opposition to proposals aimed at transferring the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list, thereby granting state governors authority over wage determinations.
