02/05/2018
MAY DAY CELEBRATION AND THE CHALLENGE OF HUNGRY WORKERS : THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE
The 1st of May is observed as a national public holiday in many countries worldwide, it's celebrated as Labour Day, International Workers Day. The date was chosen as an International Workers' Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.
The significant of May day celebration
The narrative of May day celebration has not change from one country or the other, it has remained wage increase, welfare package and good working condition and among other things, but the only thing that has changed was the commitment of the labour leaders, government and the articulate workforce who were committed to the struggle for emancipation from the hands of facist and despotic leaders in the 18th century. Unlike in Nigeria where ethnicity and religious sentiment are drag into all sphere of our national life, even speaches delivered on important day like May day would simply tell u the sides each speaker belong. More impoliticsy, recruitment and appointment are done based on sentiment while competence, expertise are jettisoned. I am sorry, If this ugly trend is not tamed, it may consume us all as a country.
The relevance of the labour movement
The workers all over the world are the drivers of development and mainstay of the economy, that was why they are refers to as the backbone of the government, little wonder why the government consistently and deliberately underpay the goose that laid the golden eggs, the answer is not far fetched, those who understand the game of politics and the dynamics of power play know that carrot and stick approach as postulated by the mafia manager Nicholo Machiavelli is being applied to the Nigeria workers.
The current minimum wage
In 21st Century, Nigeria workers are still leaving on (18,000) eighteen thousand as minimum wage which is less than 50 dollars in a month, as if that was not enough some governors were reportedly owning workers salaries and arrears for several months. On our part, we refuse to be deceived by the antics of the governors, it was an orchestrated script written and directed by the Nigeria Governors Forum NGF to hoodwink the unsuspected public to believe they cannot pay the current wage and as such Nigeria workers shouldn't demand for new wage increase in order to fulfill their electoral promises and to further loot the treasury. The action of the governors affirmed the notion that government is not a good manager and as such they need the support of the private sector to teach them how to manage their resources. Its obvious the Nigeria workers cannot survive with the current 18,000 minimum wage in this economic reality.
The demand for new minimum wage
The demand for new minimum wage increase to cushion the effect of the increase in price of fuel and to rejig the economy at this crucial time of our national life became necessary and inevitable. The Nigeria Labour Congress-NLC and its Trade Union Congress-TUC counterparts had submitted a fifty-six thousand new minimum(56,000) wage to the government for the past two years and government is doing little or nothing to address the plight of workers. However, it's noteworthy to know that the tripartite committees set up to harmonize the reports recently conducted public hearing in the six geo-political zones across the country and await the harmonize report to be submitted to the government for consideration and possible implementation. The question is how long does it take to harmonize reports, ur guess is as good as mine.
Crack in the labour movement
The good book says the house that is divided against itself cannot stand, the cold war and the personality clash among the labour leaders may have responsible for this unnecessary delayed on policy direction on the new minimum wage, we should not blame it only on the government but also our egocentric labour leaders. The needless crisis in the labour movement that led to the formation of a paralleled labour movement called United Labour Congress which was reportedly fueled by agents of government to cause dissatisfaction among the labour movement to tactically footdrag the implementation of the new minimum wage, and push it toward the end of the year to use it to camping for the next year general election.
May day celebration and the Nigeria experience
The significant of workers day celebration cannot be overemphasize especially in Nigeria, Its server as an opportunity to advocate for wage increases, good working environment, kick against harsh government policies and among others things. In Nigeria there is little or nothing to celebrate as many state governors who claimed they cannot pay the new minimum wage move around with large convoys and engage in frivolous spendings and buying properties worth millions of dollars both within and outside the country. Our senior colleagues who retired from active service have been left to their fates as many of our retirees have not receive their pension and gratuity for months.
We want to use this medium to charge our senior colleagues and leaders in the labour movement to consider the plight of of our senior colleagues. After all, our national anthem read "the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vein"
The need to join party politics
It is high time the labour movement join party politics like our counterpart in great Britain in order to be part of decision making to effect the necessary changes and revamp the economy.
To this end, the labour movement should use this opportunity of May day celebration to dialogue and renegotiate our demand with the government, we are confident that government at levels including the private sectors would implement the report as soon as it's signed by the president.
Signed
Comr. Efenudu Joseph
For : Chairman
