ASSU, others join NLC nationwide strike

In response to the two labour unions' call for an ongoing nationwide strike, some unions have closed their locations. 

Organised labour declared on Friday that it will go on an indefinite statewide strike in response to the Federal Government's unwillingness to raise the recommended minimum wage from N60,000. 

The Nigeria Labour Congress President, Joe Ajaero, has declared that the strike will start on Sunday, June 2, 2024, at midnight. 

Ajaero and Festus Osifo, the counterparts from the Trade Union Congress, jointly issued a statement expressing their grave worries and dissatisfaction with the Federal Government's inability to finalise and enact a new National Minimum Wage Act.

Additionally, they asked that the government roll back the electricity pricing rise to N65/kWh. Recall that the deadline for negotiations on the new minimum wage was May 31, 2024, established by both unions. 

However, after both sides made their offers, negotiations between organised labour and the federal government broke down on Tuesday. 

The government added N3,000 to its earlier offer of N57,000, making it N60,000. During the conference, labour declined this plan.

Labour also decreased its demand from last week's offering of N497,000 by taking N3,000 out of it, bringing their new proposal down to N494,000, during negotiations at this meeting. 

The president of the Academic Staff Union of institutions, Emmanuel Osodeke, instructed lecturers at institutions throughout the nation to join the strike as an affiliate of the congress in a statement sent on Monday to the branch chairpersons and zonal coordinators of ASUU.

The statement read, “The NLC has declared an indefinite strike action beginning from Monday, 3rd June 2024, as a result of the failure of Government to conclude the renegotiation of minimum wage for Nigerian workers and reversal of hike in electricity tariff.

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