Cross River workers may join nationwide strike, says NLC chairman
As the two-day warning strike by organized labour enters its second day in Cross River State, indications suggest a high likelihood of the state’s workers joining the imminent nationwide strike starting Sunday, December 1, 2024.
Speaking in Calabar on Tuesday morning, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Gregory Olayi, told The Nation that labour in the state would not hesitate to join the national action if negotiations with the state government fail to yield results.
“Our warning strike is to Press for the negotiation and an agreement on the new minimum wage. Our meeting has been adjourned till Thursday. Sunday is the beginning of the national strike, when the strike come without any resolution, there’s no way we can stay out of it.
“We’ll mobilize people to join the strike; The Governor according to his representatives is saying he can pay N70,000. But payment of N70,000 doesn’t just come like that, it has its own consequential adjustments, so that’s what we’re talking about,”t he Labour leader said.
Our reporter who is monitoring the situation noted that workers across the state have shown full compliance with the ongoing two-day warning strike, which began Monday, in protest against the state government’s failure to implement the proposed N70,000 minimum wage.
However, despite Governor Bassey Otu’s appeal to shelve the strike, workers have downed tools statewide, leaving the new and old secretariat complexes and the state high court locked and guarded by security personnel to prevent vandalism.
A worker, Sylvester Bassey, criticized the government’s delay in implementing the new minimum wage, accusing the administration of employing stalling tactics.
“Most states have either started paying or reached agreements with organized labour, but our government is still dragging its feet,” he lamented.
The Action Committee of the organized labour stated that the strike was a result of the government’s failure to show greater commitment to negotiating consequential adjustments tied to the minimum wage.
They warned that if the wage is not implemented by the December 1, 2024, nationwide strike deadline, the warning strike could escalate into a full-scale industrial action.
Governor Otu had earlier assured workers of his administration’s commitment to prioritizing their welfare, promising to implement the new wage. However, as of today, the strike continues.
