By Victor AhiumaYoung

AHEAD of the negotiations for a new minimum wage next year, Organised Labour has begun the process aimed at achieving a living wage for workers.

As part of the process, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, FES, in the ancient city of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, held a two day retreat titled “The Quest for a Living Wage in Nigeria.”

Among participants included leaders within the trade union movement and National Assembly members from the Senate and House of Representatives.

Welcoming participants, President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, noted that the theme of the retreat addressed “one of the most pressing issues facing our nation today. The pursuit of a National Living Wage is not merely an economic necessity but a moral imperative, embodying the principles of fairness, dignity, and social justice for the Nigerian worker.

“This is crucial given the huge suffering that our people and workers have had to go through as a result of the Economic policies of the Government in the past few years and especially on the vexatious issues of petrol price hike under the guise of subsidy withdrawal.

Given insight into the retreat, the NLC President explained that the “retreat serves as a platform for robust discussions and collaborative efforts towards a just and equitable wage system for Nigerian workers.”

According to Ajaero, “Nigeria needs us and we have to protect our workplaces, make it ours so that it can work for all of us. When workers are able to meet their basic needs, the nation benefits as businesses are revived and the economy thrives.”

Senate assurance

In a goodwill message, Chairman, Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Diket Plang, noted “that in the face of excruciating and gloomy economic realities/challenges both in peculiar and common dimensions facing our nation, subsidy removal inclusive, the singular lifeline holding the nation up is the resilient spirit of the Nigerian skilled workers in production and service sectors.

“At each turn when the Nigerian nation bounces back from real or threatened recession, it has always been due to the can-do positive spirit of the workers who man the critical productive points of production and economy.”

Senator Plang promised that “the Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity and indeed the entire Senate will discharge itself as the eye, skin, and mouth of the Nigerian workers whenever the Bill on the Living Wage arrives the National Assembly.

“The Senate and indeed, the 10th National Assembly under the chairmanship of the President of the Senate, His Excellency Obot Godswill Akpabio will take every legislative action towards ensuring that we bring to a stop, the practice of denying our workforce its deserved true wages.”