Politics

Another Call for Nationwide Strike Over Minimum Wage Delay

Published by Tope Fakinlede on July 2nd, 2024.

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) has urged Organized Labour to mobilize and declare an immediate nationwide strike in response to delays in addressing the minimum wage and recent electricity tariff increases.

CDWR has called on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to organize a 48-hour general strike and mass protest. Their demands include a minimum wage of at least N200,000 and the reversal of various anti-poor policies such as privatization, deregulation, subsidy removal, and electricity tariff hikes.

Chinedu Bosah, CDWR’s National Publicity Secretary, highlighted that the NLC and TUC have been in prolonged negotiations with the government and private sector over a new minimum wage. The deadlock, now over three weeks long, has been exacerbated by the government’s and private sector’s insistence on a N60,000 minimum wage. This stalemate led to an indefinite strike beginning on June 3, 2024, which was suspended on June 4, 2024.

Bosah pointed to the recent success in Kenya, where mass protests led by young people forced the government to withdraw an IMF/World Bank-inspired tax increase. He suggested that Nigerian workers and youth could similarly compel the Tinubu administration to reverse the prices of petroleum products, electricity tariffs, public school fees, and other neoliberal policies, providing immediate relief to many Nigerians.

The CDWR reiterated its call for NLC and TUC to declare and widely mobilize for a 48-hour general strike and mass protest. The group also emphasized the importance of grassroots organization to support the struggle and ensure trade union leaders are committed to their responsibilities.

Among the immediate demands, the CDWR suggested the inclusion of a provision for automatic minimum wage adjustments in line with inflation and the rising cost of living. They argued that waiting four or five years for wage adjustments is unnecessary and that this measure would help prevent wages from lagging behind inflation and poverty rates. However, they acknowledged that achieving this would require a significant struggle to force the capitalist elite to agree to and implement these changes, as they are likely to resist and attempt to roll back any concessions made.