The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused enemies of the Nigerian working class of sowing confusion and division within its ranks before the negotiation of a new national minimum wage.
The Congress, in a statement signed by its Acting General Secretary, Comrade Benson Upah, said the enemies were attempting to sow confusion by shifting blame and obscuring the true loci of responsibility as workers begin the negotiation of a new national minimum wage.
“The enemies of the working class are attempting to sow confusion and division within our ranks by shifting blame and obscuring the true loci of responsibility as we begin the negotiation of a new national minimum wage,” the NLC said.
It said it observed with grave concern the deliberate spread of falsehood and mischievous misinformation by certain opponents of the trade union movement and enemies of the Nigerian working class regarding the 2024 national minimum wage setting exercise and the consequential adjustment process.
The statement, the Congress said, was issued to educate the public, set the record straight, and expose the ignorance and mischief of those who seek to mislead Nigerian workers and the masses.
For the purpose of clarity, the NLC stated that the national minimum wage is set through a tripartite process involving the labour movement, the government, and employers’ representatives.
“The NLC’s mandate at this stage is clear and unambiguous: to negotiate the national minimum wage, the primary and basic floor below which no worker should be paid,” the Congress said.
It described the national minimum wage as the foundational wage upon which all other wage structures are built.
The statement added that once the national minimum wage has been agreed upon through the tripartite process, the responsibility for negotiating consequential adjustments, the process of aligning existing wage structures with the new minimum wage, falls to the respective sectors.
The NLC said that it was a fundamental principle of collective bargaining.
The Congress noted that in the public sector, the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), comprising government representatives and approximately eight trade unions with their national leadership, sits with the federal government to negotiate implementation and consequential adjustments.
It added that its state-level counterparts negotiate with state governments.
“In the private sector, industrial unions negotiate individually with employers’ associations according to the dynamics of their respective sectors. For example, the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) negotiates with the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) on how the national minimum wage will be applied in the food and beverage sector. The NLC said this pattern applies across all sectors.
“The NLC represents both the private and public sectors. However, it said it is critically important to understand that the NLC does not sit at the table to negotiate consequential adjustments in the various sectors. The leadership of the unions in these sectors bears sole responsibility for the outcomes of consequential adjustments in their respective sectors.
“Therefore, the claim that the NLC was responsible for negotiating the N40,000 across-the-board addition as a consequential adjustment for federal workers is not only false but is a deliberate distortion of the collective bargaining framework in Nigeria.
“The N40,000 outcome was the sole responsibility of the leadership of the unions in the public sector,” the NLC said.
It added that any person who attributes the outcome of consequential adjustments to the NLC is either naive, plainly ignorant, or involved in propagating outright mischief to mislead Nigerian workers and the masses.
“Such a person is so pathetically ignorant that they are not fit to hold any leadership position in any union, as they lack understanding of the basic structures and dynamics of collective bargaining in Nigeria,” the Congress said.
It noted that the collective bargaining framework in Nigeria is not only statutory but has enjoyed decades of flavour and traditions.
The NLC said that throughout the history of the national minimum wage setting exercise, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress has never sat down to negotiate consequential adjustment with either the government or the organised private sector employers.
“The JPSNC has always had that responsibility for the public sector, while the Joint Industrial Negotiating Councils of the diverse industrial sectors have also done the same for the private sector.
“The NLC stands firmly with the Nigerian working class and masses, and we will not allow our movement to be misrepresented by those who serve the interests of capital and exploitation,” the Congress said.
The NLC said the new national minimum wage is on the verge of being negotiated and described it as a critical moment for Nigerian workers and the masses to take necessary steps to hold specific institutions accountable for their specific expectations.
“The NLC will do its best to ensure that the outcome of this forthcoming exercise continues to serve Nigerian workers and masses and approximates a living wage,” the Congress said.
It added that it will put adequate measures in place to ensure that consequential adjustment exercises are done by diverse institutions in creative ways for the benefit of Nigerian workers.
