The Akwa Ibom chapters of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have issued a 21-day ultimatum to the state government to implement the N18,000 minimum wage.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting of the Joint State Council of NLC, TUC and Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC) and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday.
NAN recalls that the state civil servants under the aegis of NLC and TUC, had rejected the earlier negotiated minimum wage on grounds that other Niger Delta states were paying better salaries than Akwa Ibom.
“The salary table prepared by government contained distortions intended to make Akwa Ibom State workers earn less salaries and be rated inferior to workers in the neighbouring states,” the communiqué said.
The communiqué gave the state government up to Oct. 28 to accede to? the demands of the workers, or be prepared to face industrial action.
?It appealed to the governor to re-convene the technical committee to review the salary table before the end of October.
The communique stated that the organised? labour would not accept the government's suggestion that labour unions should wait for all other oil producing states to implement the minimum wage in order to borrow a leaf from them.
It further demanded the implementation of all outstanding wage increases alongside the upward review of the minimum wage salary table.
The communiqué warned against attempts by aggrieved politicians to divide the ranks of labour by making spurious allegations of bribery and compromise against labour leaders.
“Labour will resist any attempt by some frustrated politicians and opportunists to use Labour to score undeserved political points. Enough is enough!”