Labour gives Cross River government ultimatum over minimum wage

Following the breakdown of negotiations on the new minimum wage, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Cross River has given the state government a seven-day ultimatum to act.

A letter, signed by the State Chairman, Comrade Julius Nkoji, and Secretary Comrade John Odey, with the caption, “Implementation of New Minimum Wage and Consequential Adjustment of Salaries and other Labour issues in Cross River State Seven Days Ultimatum” was yesterday addressed to Governor Ben Ayade in Calabar.

The union, in the correspondence, said: “Sequel to the breakdown of minimum wage negotiations in the state and government’s refusal to implement promotions of civil and public servants and also restore the names of civil and public servants deactivated from the payroll since September 2019, organised labour at its meeting held on Thursday, February 20, 2020 resolved to issue to government a seven-day ultimatum effective Friday, February 21, 2020 to Thursday, February 27, 2020 to address the aforementioned issues.”

The union went further to warn: “Please take notice that failure to attend to these issues on or before the midnight of Thursday February 27, 2020, labour will have no other option than to embark on an industrial action forthwith to press home our demands.”

The letter added: “In view of the above, we believe that the state government will not allow these issues to degenerate into a breakdown of industrial peace in the state.”

Governor Ayade had recently promised labour that the state would be among the first to pay the new minimum wage.

But some workers in the state are grumbling that the state government was “busy making frivolous and bogus appointments to people that are not contributing anything to the state’s economy yet are collecting huge salaries, thus over-bloating the wage bill of the state.”