Citing workers’ reduced purchasing power forced by prevailing harsh economic realities, labour has kicked its heels in, insisting on an upward review of the minimum wage from N18, 000 to N56, 000. But employers disagree, citing devastating effects of economic recession on organised businesses. Government on its part is dilly-dallying. The stage appears set for a showdown with labour. But there are fears that factionalisation in the labour movement and the economic downturn might conspire to throw spanner in the works. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.
The situation is dicey. Despite its seeming hard stance on the National Minimum Wage issue, labour appears to be walking a tightrope. Even before labour rode on the platform of last Monday’s Workers’ Day celebration to renew the push for an upward review of the minimum wage from the current N18, 000 to 56, 000, there were indications that organised labour may have been swimming against the tide.
Although, the law makes the review of the National Minimum Wage every five years legitimate, those schooled in the dynamics of labour unionism fear that labour’s sustained agitation for a better deal for workers may suffer serious setback following the emergence of factions in the labour movement. Private sector employers are also kicking, insisting that the crippling effects of economic recession on organised businesses have made it impossible to pay a new minimum wage.
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has been engulfed in leadership tussle since its last 11th National Delegates’ Conference in February 2015 ended in a fiasco. A supremacy battle between two factions led by Comrades Ayuba Wabba and Joe Ajaero over the disputed outcome of the Delegates’ Conference has since thrown the labour movement into confusion. Ajaero had alleged that the election, which produced Wabba as NLC’s National President was never transparent and the outcome therefore, unacceptable.
Efforts by former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and other past labour leaders to broker peace between both factions failed to yield positive result. The recommendations of the Reconciliatory Committee headed by former NLC President Hassan Sunmonu were never implemented either. The feud later snowballed into the formation of a new labour centre, United Labour Congress (ULC), headed by Ajaero. That was in December last year. The splinter group boasts no fewer than 25 industrial unions.
Some of the affiliates of the ULC include National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Nigeria Union on Electricity Employees (NUEE), Nigeria Union of Mine Workers, National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Employees (NUBIFFE), Nigeria Union of Rail Workers, National Union of Lottery Agents, & Employees, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).
Now, the ghost of labour’s failure to remain a united entity may have come back to haunt the labour movement when it needed cohesion most. The thinking within labour circles is that the inability of the labour leaders to mend the cracks in the wall before it came down crashing may throw spanner in the works and weaken the current agitation for a new minimum wage, rather than strengthen it. They fear that the Federal Government and private sector employers might cash in on labour’s disunity to deny workers an enhanced pay package.
Such fears are not without justification. For instance, while the Wabba-led NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have jointly presented a N56, 000 national minimum wage demand to the Federal Government, the Ajaero-led ULC pushed for a N96, 000 as minimum wage, insisting that workers deserved even more. Ajaero, however, assured that the different figures presented by the ULC and the combination of NLC and TUC will not create any problem.
According to him, the three labour centres have found themselves in a worst situation and overcome it. He said this happened during the last fuel price increase and the palliative committee later set up to negotiate with the government. “I don’t think we are going to have problem with 96, 000 or 56, 000 as figures. We will harmonise it. Just like before we went for palliative committee, we had different positions,” the labour leader said.
Despite Ajaero’s assurances that the three federations will unite and work together to harmonise their different positions on the new national minimum wage in the interest of Nigerians and the workers, recent developments do not seem to inspire such optimism.
Indications that the emergence of factions in the labour community might throw spanner in the works emerged on Monday during the May Day Rally when NLC and ULC held parallel ceremonies in Asaba and Effurun, Delta State, respectively.
As if that was not enough signal that the agitation for a better deal for workers may hit the rocks, Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige inadvertently brought nearer home the danger the leadership crisis in the labour movement poses to the current agitation for a wage review when he blamed Monday’s disruption and protest by workers during the May Day celebration in Abuja on factions in the NLC.
This year’s May Day Rally with the theme, “Labour Relations in Economic Recession: An Appraisal” was marred by protests. For close to one hour, angry workers barred government officials from delivering the speech from the Federal Government.
According to Wabba and his TUC counterpart, Comrade Bobboi Kagama, Nigerian workers expressed their anger and disappointment on the non-implementation of the minimum wage thereby disrupting the 2017 May Day celebration.
The aggrieved workers were said to have insisted that the Federal Government had a responsibility to give them a definite position on the lingering issue of a new minimum wage in the country. The absence of the President and his deputy from the event did not go down well with them.
But Ngige thinks otherwise. He said the workers’ rage was not about minimum wage or the absence of the President and his deputy at the rally. Rather, the venue was infiltrated by non-workers due to factionalisation within the labour federation.
The minister, who said his conclusion was based on intelligence report, however, assured that government will address the issue of minimum wage and the backlog of promotion arrears and allowances.
“So, workers should be patient and give us some time. Within the next quarter, the minimum wage committee will start functioning and in the next three months too backlog of all arrears and other allowances that are due to them will be paid,” Ngige assured.
But it was not the first time factionalisation was believed to have frustrated labour from presenting a common, united position on a national issue. For instance, both factions held parallel May Day events in 2015 and 2016. The feud between the two gladiators was also said to be responsible for weakening the badly organised general strike in May last year against fuel price hike.
While the May 2016 struggle against fuel price hike was on, the Ajaero faction could not join the ranks of workers on strike called by Wabba’s faction. Instead, his group opted to hold meetings and collaborate with government in finding solution to the issue. Because of the internal crisis, the leadership of the mainstream faction led by Wabba could not adequately mobilise affiliate industrial unions and workers for the action.
Recall that when the government invited the factions to a meeting over the issue, Wabba reportedly said he would not hold meeting with government alongside the Ajaero faction. This forced government to hold separate meetings with the factions. The result was that as soon as the strike threat was over, government lost interest and, to date, has done much, if anything, cushion the effects of the policy on workers and Nigerians.
This was in stark contrast to January 2012 when millions of Nigerian working masses, youths and students, market women and artisans as well as the rural and urban poor, participated in strikes and demonstrations against increase in fuel prices by the erstwhile Jonathan government. The fact that then there was a united labour platform strengthened that struggle.
Economic recession
is sore point
The current N18, 000 National Minimum Wage Act was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan on March 6, 2011. Both houses of the National Assembly passed it into law, with a proviso for it to be reviewed upwards after five years.
The law, which increased the national minimum wage across the country from N7, 500 to N18, 000 per month, also states that once an employer in the public or private sector has a workforce of about 50 persons, he or she is bound by the law to pay a minimum wage of N18, 000.
Apparently drawing strength from the law, NLC and TUC, on April 27, 2016, made a proposal of N56, 000 minimum wage to the Federal Government. The ULC on its part proposed N96, 000.
According to Wabba, workers’ demand for an upward review of the minimum wage from the current N18, 000 to N52, 000 was reasonable, considering the prevailing harsh economic realities.
He told The Nation, for instance, that rising inflation was biting harder on Nigerian workers and reducing their purchasing power, even as high cost of goods and services were seriously affecting workers’ overall welfare.
“It’s time for the minimum wage to be reviewed both in law and practice, because the cycle is due and inflation is biting very hard, high cost of goods and services is affecting workers seriously,” he stated.
Wabba asked, “What is the value of N18, 000 when it was signed, looking at inflation, purchasing power and ability to pay?” While noting that NLC and TUC have been reasonable in making such demand, he expressed hope that other social partners will look at it from labour’s perspective, commitment and nationalism in putting up those demands.
Wabba is not done. He added that an upward review of the minimum wage was imperative in view of the current fight against corruption. Hear him: “If you don’t pay workers well to meet up with their bills we can’t fight corruption.” He warned that workers should not be treated as slaves, as companies are still making profit.
The labour leader reiterated that Nigerian workers are at the receiving end of the present economic crisis caused by crashing oil prices in the international market. He argues that it is only when workers are paid well and as and when due, that the productive arm of the economy can get the boost to support the resuscitation of the depressed economy.
The General Secretary, National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), Comrade Peter Ozo Eson, agrees with him. He said Nigeria’s only way out of the present economic quagmire is a well remunerated workforce.
“It is unfortunate that workers are being made to suffer the effects of recession, which they were not the cause. Owing workers or depressing them will not be the way out of recession. To get out of recession, salary should be paid as and when due,” he said.
Ozo Eson maintained that it is when workers spend the salary earned that the manufacturing and other service sectors presently going through various challenges can get a respite.
He said the organised labour is now ready to ensure that no employer, be it federal, state or private employers, owe workers, while equally pushing for the renegotiation of the existing minimum wage.
Employers disagree
Incidentally, the same recession cited by labour as reason for demanding a wage increase for workers is being bandied by employers for their inability to pay a new wage. The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), which handles the private sector, was emphatic that private operators will not be able to pay new wage increase now.
It is not that NECA is unaware that the current economic downturn had taken huge toll on workers. Rather, NECA argues that private operators are hamstrung by the same economic depression that has seen their businesses dwindle in recent times, forcing some of them to reduce their workforce or and close shops.
NECA Director General Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo recently urged stakeholders in the socio-labour community and players in the Nigerian industrial relations’ system to be circumspect in their approach to the heated issue of the national minimum wage. He, however, admitted that there was indeed, an understanding that the national minimum wage would be due for discussion after five years.
“The clamour for discussions by the NLC and TUC is therefore, legitimate” Oshinowo said, adding that there is a time-tested and enshrined procedure for the discussion of the national minimum wage, which entails the setting up of a National Minimum Wage Committee.
The Committee, he said, comprises representatives of the Federal Government, led by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, State Governments, usually represented by three state governors, employers in the private sector under the aegis of NECA and organised labour as represented by NLC and TUC.
Oshinowo said the principle of reasonableness and superior arguments has always carried the day during minimum wage dialogue and that conclusions at the platform would not necessarily be for or against increase. He said it would be to examine the need for or against and justifications for whatever positions are canvassed.
The NECA DG said it is the Committee’s responsibility to sort out the issue of desirability of review or sustenance of status quo in the event that timing for upward review is inappropriate. To him, labour’s demand for N52, 000 new minimum wage is unreasonable and unrealistic.
But Wabba would have none of that. He told The Nation that while those dismissing labour’s demand as unreasonable and unrealistic are entitled to their opinion, the reality is that workers presently cannot feed themselves because of the high cost of goods and services.
His words: “Everybody has the right to his or her opinion, but the opinion of the workers is that a review of the minimum wage is legitimate both by law and practice. Five years cycle is legitimate. Many workers cannot send their children to school, many cannot pay their rent, and many cannot even go to work regularly.”
Oshinowo, however, insisted that at the National Minimum Wage Committee, employers will canvass the position that private sector cannot afford a pay increase at this point in time when economic recession and its attendant devastating effects on organised businesses is visible.
For Ajaero, the issue of National Minimum Wage is an inclusive one. He, therefore, warned that minimum wage cannot be negotiated without NECA who handles the private sector. He pointed out that all workers, both in the private and public sectors should be adequately represented, as well as the state governments.
He has an ally in Wabba in that score. Wabba said it was necessary for the Technical Committee for Palliatives and Minimum Wage set up to negotiate the minimum wage to be comprehensive to avoid possible hitches. He said this was why there was the need to carry along State Governors, the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and other critical stakeholders.
Wabba said the Committee will be a 26-member Committee where the state governors will be represented, “because they have actually been the problem militating against the review of the minimum wage.” He said left for the Federal Government, there would not have been any problem with regards to implementing the new minimum wage.
MAN, OPS also
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) have also argued that the N56, 000 demanded as minimum wage is unrealistic.
MAN President Dr. Frank Jacobs and ACCI President Mr. Tony Ejinkeonye pointed out that the current economic realities might make it difficult for the Federal Government to afford labour’s N56, 000 minimum wage demand. They, therefore, called for caution.
“Everybody is entitled to make demands to satisfy his or her personal interest, but the question is: ‘can this economy withstand that kind of minimum wage?” Jacobs asked, pointing out that much as it is okay for labour to demand a wage rise, the system may not pay.
On his part, Ejinkeonye admitted that the level of inflation in the country had made it imperative for workers’ salaries to be reviewed upward. He, however, said there was the need for such review to be tailored to government’s ability to pay.
“I support the minimum wage, which supports an increase in remuneration for workers, but it has to be tailored carefully. If there is going to be salary increment, the state of our economy has to be really checked so that if government is to take a decision, it would be taken in a holistic manner,” Ejinkeonye said.
Similarly, the immediate past President General of Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Tony Nted, said current economic realities do not support a wage increase. “I have said it before and I am very upright; that this is not the right time; that we are going through pains, but we have to bear it. We have to bear and pay the price for the recession,” he said.
He told The Nation in a chat that asking government to increase the minimum wage when some states cannot even pay the current N18, 000 is wrong. “I think the time is inappropriate. I am not saying the review is not due, or that what they are paying is right; I am looking at the timing, which is not right,” Nted argued.
The labour unionist said rather than ask for a new minimum wage, labour should ask government to create the enabling environment for business to thrive, so that investors can come in. “If there is no security investors will not come. In other parts of the world, government doesn’t create jobs; it is the private sector that creates jobs.
“Government only creates the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Government’s policy should be stable to attract investors. Government should also try to understand that business and politics should not be mixed together. There is difference between business and politics,” Nted added.
Oshinowo agrees with him, noting that the “The priority now should be for all stakeholders to join hands with government to deliver on inclusive growth that will ensure job security and job creation.”
Where does this leave workers whose standard of living has evidently deteriorated? Will labour’s argument that the new minimum wage will make sure that the poor or the poorest of the worker is protected against exploitation hit the right chord in the ears of government and private employers? Is labour fighting a lost battle?
These are questions agitating the minds of stakeholders, as labour intensifies the push for a new minimum wage. Such questions are even more pertinent considering the fact that some state governors, citing sharp decline in national revenue triggered by fall in oil prices earlier threatened to stop paying the N18, 000 minimum wage or retrench workers.
Besides, some governors and lawmakers are said to be currently pushing a bill, which seeks to remove the National Minimum Wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list. The bill, which scaled through the first reading before the House embarked on Easter recess, is said to be ready for second reading on the floor of the House soon.
Expectedly, the move has not gone down well with labour. The Wabba-led NLC is already threatening fire and brimstone. He said he will mobilise Nigerians against governors and the National Assembly members for sponsoring such an anti-workers’ legislation that seeks to “strangulate workers.”
Wabba argued that all over the world, minimum wage is on the exclusive list. “We are talking about protecting the most vulnerable group. That is the principle and philosophy. It is an International Labour Organisation (ILO) core issue under decent work agenda. It is a core ILO issue that all countries are conformed to,” he fumed.
Ajaero is no less peeved. At the pre-2017 May Day seminar organised by ULC, in Lagos, he said the move was ill-motivated to deny workers their right to live well, which is what some of the governors have been advocating but “we will mobilise against them.” He said if the planned delisting of wage from the exclusive legislative list succeeds, it means that the country would no longer have a national minimum wage.
“It means that each state of the federation will be empowered to legislate and arrive at what should be their respective minimum,” Ajaero said. He noted that the concurrent list stipulates that powers are shared jointly by both the central and regional or state governments as stipulated in the Constitution. Even though both governments can make law on matters that fall under the concurrent list, the central government is supreme.
Govt’s position
The Technical Committee on Palliative and Minimum Wage headed by Ngige had submitted its report to the Federal Government and advised the government to immediately set up the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage, which will negotiate a desirable national minimum wage for the country.
Ngige assured that government would address the issue of minimum wage, including issue of backlog of promotion areas and allowances. He explained that although, these were captured in the 2016 budget, the releases, for some reasons, could not come. He, however, said the President of the Senate has now given his assurance on the matter.
“So we are going to capture them in the 2017 budget and once it’s captured in the appropriation, the Minister of Finance will handle the rest,” Ngige said, noting that the issue of minimum wage was being delayed because the government employed what it called a tripartite negotiation also known as social dialogue so as to capture all sectors.
He said this was because the issue did not concern the government or public sector alone, but also the private sector so, it needed time to carry everybody along. “We have finished the framework for the composition of the committee of the minimum wage and we have passed it round to government to source the requisite and qualified persons that will man this committee,” he explained.
While urging workers to be patient, the minister promised that within the next quarter, the minimum wage committee will start functioning and in the next three months too, backlog of all arrears and other allowances that are due to workers will be paid.
“The Federal Government has been friendly to workers to the extent that it even went ahead and initiated the bailout fund. No government has done that before and that was because we did not want to lay off any worker,” Ngige stated.
The minister’s position is in sharp contrast with the one he earlier canvassed. He had earlier said that the review of salaries of workers at the moment was not on the table because of the country’s economic challenges. He said other tiers of government that have more money could pay higher wages.
Will Ngige’s change of gear and promises douse the agitation for a new minimum wage? More importantly, will the internal crisis in the labour movement allow it close ranks and force down the hands of governors and private sector operators to pay a new minimum wage? The situation is indeed, dicey.
