Organised Labour in the country has called on for the need of a National minimum wage, saying the
N30,000 recommended by the tripartite committee only translate to meal of N50
for a family of Six and N1000 per day for workers.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba
Wabba who spoke on behalf of Organised Labour Act the public hearing on a bill
for a New National minimum wage said government alone, being one of the social
partners in the tripartite cannot single handedly after the figures agreed to by
the tripartite and submitted to government.
Wabba said when the minimum wage was increased to N18,000 in
2011, it was equivalent to 150 dollars, adding that the N30,000 recommended by
the tripartite committee is still less than 100 dollars and appealed to the
House of Representatives to increase the figure from the N27,000 contained in
the bill to N30,000 as recommended by the tripartite committee.
Wabba said “I remember that in 2017 during the May day
pandemonium, the national Assembly made a commitment that when the minimum wage
hill is submitted, it will receive accelerated hearing. This promise has been
kept.
“On this issue of minimum wage, by our data base, 11 million
workers will benefit and we know that the law provides for a wife, a husband
and four children. If you multiple that by 11; there is no economy that will
not be boosted. This is why it is very central.
“The ILO recognizes that minimum wage is one of the most used
instruments for wealth distribution in the labour market. Intact, minimum wage
is provided for by law in 90 percent of countries of the world.
“There has been some misconception about what minimum wage stand
for. It is the barest minimum that is allowed to be paid to a worker in both
public and private sector. When people say we are not supposed to have a
minimum wage, that is not true.
“The United States of America is a federal system. It has a
minimum wage of 10 dollars per hour and after that, every state can then pay
higher. Recently, Microsoft increased its minimum wage to 15 dollars per hour.
The principle is that we must protect the most vulnerable worker from
exploitation.
“So, it is not about the state, but about the protection of the
individual. If you say remove it from the exclusive list and give it to the
states, who will fix for the private sector. Employer cannot and should
determined single handedly the salary of a worker. This is the principle and if
you understand the principle, it will be easier to understand the challenges
and work towards addressing them.
“The minimum wage was due in 2016 because through the collective
bargaining profess of 2011, we all agreed among all the social partners that a
five year circle will be used to review the minimum wage. Some important
economic challenges arose within the period and fuel price increased by about
85 percent and electricity tarrif also increased.
“By the salary has remained static. From our records, minimum
wage has never led to increase in inflation. Intact when minimum wage is
increase, inflation will drop. There are other scenario that has increase
inflation rate in the country and one of them is spending during election.
“This is one factor that
we must consider because there will be excess liquidity which will trigger
inflation. By the data presented by the National Bureau of Statistics, there is
no where minimum wage has triggered inflation.
“When we signed the N18000 minimum wage, it was equivalent to
150 dollars. Today, it is less than 50 dollars. So, the reality is that it is
biting hard on the workers and most of them can’t feed their families and can’t
even go to work and be productive. This was why we insist on a new minimum
wage.” He said.
No comments:
Post a Comment