…decry the meagre consequential adjustments
….unhappy over delayed in salaries of federal workers
…..government is still owing five months wage awards, arrears of the minimum wage, others
….says NLC, TUC Have Failed Nigerian Workers
…The leadership of the two Unions deserve a vote of no confidence.
..alleged that the two Labour Union leadership have sold out workers
The Forum of Federal Workers have came had on the Nigeria Labour Congress, and its Trade Union counterparts for jettisoning the interest of workers as it had to do with the current economic challenges Nigerians are facing.
The Forum in a press statement issued and signed by Comrade Andrew Emelieze, the National Coordinator of the Federal Workers Forum (FWF) alleged that the leadership of the two Unions have on several occasions disappointed nigerians.
The statement alleged that both leadership of “NLC/TUC have severally disappointed the Nigerian workers. The current hardship faced by workers nationwide has shown that the NLC/TUC and their affiliate unions have failed the Nigerian working class.There is no excuse however to allow for this mass suffering and torture of the working class.
Comrade Andrew Emelieze said the current situation at hand has proven that the NLC/TUC has been playing a lip service to the plight of the suffering workers and the masses. The two labour centres have been hypocritical , playing to the gallery and most times diverting the attention of workers with pretty agitations.
“Labour has been nonfunctional, even when President Tinubu removed subsidy on petrol, which to most of us is an economic sabotage, labour was not able to find a rationale to mobilise the workers to totally reject the petrol price increment from ₦187 and now being sold for over ₦1200 , this shows to us that labour has abandoned their responsibilities.
“For decades now, labour has not been able to win a living wage for the workers. Labour has been passive while government continually privatise the country, delibrately devalue our national currency and deconstruct our communal values. Very regrettable to note that some so called labour leaders were also members of the privatisation committee to sell off Nigeria.
“We equally observed that some of these labour leaders have been treacherous, while serving as labour leaders, they were also card carrying members of the ruling party and eventually contesting elections under such party. This is indeed a disgrace.
The recent new national minimum has exposed labour . The NLC/TUC were not able to win a decent wage for the Nigerian workers. Funnily, these so called labour leaders still went ahead to give the “Gbosa” labour salute to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the ₦70,000 pittance given as the new national minimum wage, an amount currently worth just $40 that cannot even be enough for monthly transportation to work not to even talk of buying a bag of rice. Upon tax and other statutory deductions , the new minimum wage will translate to less than ₦60,000 take home pay, yet government still went ahead to increase the price of petrol, increase interest rates and also devalue the naira before the implementation of the new national minimum wage.
“This to us is wickedness and labour has shown itself to be part of this conspiracy against the Nigerian workers . To the best of our knowledge, labour has gone to sleep and whenever the opportunity arises , workers are traded off and sold out by the NLC/ TUC
“The consequential adjustments across all levels in the federal public service further show the NLC/TUC as a complete failure and a liability to the Nigerian working people. Only ₦40,000 was added to the federal workers, which was equally taxed and at around #33,000 was the only addition to federal government workers’ salary.
We the Federal Workers are really very disappointed in the NLC/TUC. Currently, our salaries is being delayed and paid in batches. Presently. most of the Federal Workers have not received their November salaries and workers are now begging their different MDA’s to pay up the November salary, yet labour remains mute.
Government is still owing us five months wage awards, arrears of the minimum wage, promotion arrears and many more outstanding arrears over the years but our unions have turned a blind eyes on this.
We the federal workers therefore have evaluated the activities of the NLC/TUC, We have come to the conclusion that the NLC/TUC is deceiving the Nigerian workers and that this present crop of leadership will not lead a struggle towards the emancipation of the working class.
“We will only be deceiving ourselves too if we don’t engage this ugly situation critically. As a matter of fact, it is also discovered that there is massive corruption in the trade unions and their leadership is not different from what is obtainable with the decadence obtainable in Nigeria. More painful is the fact that most labour leaders are not at home with the ideal labour ideology to lead society to transformation. Thus, we are passing a vote of no confidence on the NLC/TUC and their leadership. We are calling on the leadership to honourably step down and if they refuse, workers are called upon to vacate them. This is a call for revolution and we believe it must start from within. The NLC and the TUC are serial failures, we have had enough of their woes, they must go. We believe strongly that this is the position of most of the Nigerian workers and so we call on the working class not to compromise on this historic vote of no confidence against labour for it is a right step in the right direction to reposition the Nigerian labour movement towards achieving a working class society.free from exploitation and alienation of labour.
“We are also using this opportunity to remind the federal government that we the federal workers are rejecting the starvation ₦70,000 minimum wage which to us is wickedness visited on the workers.
“This is not the best of times to owe salaries. We are calling on the federal government to immediately pay up November salary and ensure that December salaries are paid before Christmas and not repeat the incidence of last year that saw the delay in December salaries.
“It is equally very important that all outstanding arrears and five months wage award owed the federal government workers be paid before the end of December 2024
“We demand that the federal government put in place mechanisms from January next year to start paying a family support allowance and or a cost of living allowance to federal government workers to cushion the effects of the hardship ravaging the Nigerian people.
“We are also giving our final warning to Mr President to address the hunger and hardship crisis confronting we the federal workers and the masses at large else we will not hesitate to pass a vote of no confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as earlier promised and also we wil lead agitations to revolt against hunger and hardship in Nigeria if this crisis of hunger and hardship is not addressed.
“We have lost hope in labour and we cannot continue to deceive ourselves, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have failed the Nigerian workers ,the vote of no confidence on them remains valid until the current leadership is dissolved.
