…says workers surviving by hair’s breadth
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has said the proposed slash in workers’ salaries by the Federal Government, should be regarded as a plan to embark on a mass murder of workers in the country.
The NLC, in a statement titled; “We have no more blood to bleed,” on Wednesday in Abuja, was reacting to a statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed who revealed ongoing plans to reduce the high cost of governance by cutting down on the salaries of Nigerian workers.
She was also reported to have directed the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to immediately review the salaries of civil servants as well as the number of federal agencies in the country.
But the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who condemned and rejected the both plans, lamented that workers were finding it difficult to survive and shouldn’t be subjected to further torture.
According to him, the move was not only in violation of relevant International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) conventions and declarations on wages and decent work, but was proposed at a time when many countries were increasing workers salaries, extending security coverage and providing all forms of palliatives to help their people scale through the terrible socio-economic dislocations occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.