The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights, CDWR, has called on Ogranised Labour to immediately mobilise and declare a nationwide strike over the minimum wage and the recent hike in electricity tariff.
According to CDWR, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, as the next step in the minimum wage struggle, should declare and mobilise widely for a 48-hour general strike and mass protest to demand a minimum wage not less than N200, 000 and the reversal of all anti-poor policies (privatization, deregulation, subsidy removal, electricity tariff hike etc).
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Bosah, CDWR recalled that NLC and TUC had been at loggerheads with the government and private sector over a new minimum wage, and negotiation has been deadlocked for over three weeks and still counting, saying Government and Private Sector insistence on paying N60, 000 provoked the declaration of an indefinite strike which started on June 3rd 2024 but was suspended on the 4th of June, 2024.
The group contended that “The mass protest of mostly young people has just forced the Ruto-led government in Kenya to withdraw the IMF/World Bank-inspired tax increment policy. This example shows that it is also possible for Nigerian working people and youth to force the Tinubu-led government to reverse the prices of petroleum products, electricity tariffs, fee hikes in public schools, and all other neo-liberal capitalist policies, policies which would give some immediate respite to most Nigerians.
“CDWR calls on the leadership of NLC and TUC, as the next step in the minimum wage struggle, to declare and this time mobilise widely for a 48-hour general strike and mass protest to demand a minimum wage not less than N200, 000 and the reversal of all anti-poor policies (privatization, deregulation, subsidy removal, electricity tariff hike etc).