The Workers’ Rights Campaign has backed the three-day warning strike embarked upon by public sector workers over demands for a new national minimum wage and reduction in the pump price of petrol.
The campaign, in a statement signed by its Chairperson, Frances Akinjole, and Secretary, Bàbá Ayé, on Thursday, said the demands of the striking workers were legitimate and overdue.
The workers, under the aegis of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council Trade Union Side, are demanding a new national minimum wage of at least N500,000 and a reduction in the price of petrol to N500 per litre, according to the WRC.
The campaign said the demands were based on the rising cost of living and the economic realities facing Nigerian workers.
“Workers deserve better,” the organisation said, arguing that the current take-home pay of workers was insufficient to meet their basic needs.
The WRC said it had held a series of online and physical meetings with labour leaders and rank-and-file workers to discuss the condition of workers and the need for living wages.
It also accused the Federal Government of failing to adequately address concerns raised by organised labour, while criticising the economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The organisation said workers had given the Federal Government adequate notice before embarking on the warning strike.
“The Nigerian working class has a rich history of struggle and a future to win through struggle,” the campaign said.
The WRC urged the JNPSNC Trade Union Side to sustain the action beyond the three-day warning strike if the government failed to meet the workers’ demands.
It called for what it described as a “massive public sector strike wave,” drawing a comparison with labour actions between 1989 and 1990 that it said contributed to an upward review of the national minimum wage.
The campaign also called on the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, industrial unions across sectors and pro-worker civil society organisations to support the demand for a new national minimum wage that would constitute a living wage.
It concluded with a call for workers to unite in defence of their rights and improved living standards.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from Third Lens.
Contact: theeditor@thirdlensng.com
