From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
As the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) embarked on a nationwide strike over inability of the tripartite committee to agree on the new minimum wage and hike in electricity tariff commences today, members of Coalition of Civil Society Organisations,under umbrella of Good Governance Forum (GGF) have decided to pulled out of the strike action, and appealed to Labour leasers to call off the strike.
The Coalition said the decision to pull out of the strike was taken out of fear that it might degenerate into anarchy; worsen economic situation and cause more hardship across the country.
The Nigeria Labour unions on Friday did declare an indefinite nationwide strike, starting on Monday, June 3, 2024, due to the Federal Government’s refusal to increase the proposed minimum wage above N60,000.
In a press statement jointly signed by the National Coordinator and Secretary of the group, Dr. Mansir Jaafar Ndagi and Mr.Biodun Dele, the Coalition of CSOs cautioned the labour unions against jacking up minimum wage to the rate that the state governments will not be able to afford the pay.
“The fear arising from another rate of inflation should be matter for condition, should labour added money beyond the reasonable level.
” We are urging Federal government to increase the numbers of people that are given conditional cash transfer,who are not in the working category'”.
“However, we want to urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene to avert a prolonged strike action that could ground the economy.
“We are also appealing to the labour unions to shelve strike action immediately and go back to negotiating table to continue to discuss with FG with a mind set that majority of Nigerians are not civil servants”. The statement said.