Enugu Primary School Teachers, LG’s Workers Yet To Be Receiving N30,000 minimum Wage
Labour Unions in Enugu State have joined their counterparts across the country to protest against the bill seeking to take the Minimum wage out of the Exclusive List and put it in the Concurrent List.
The Workers marched through the streets of Enugu metropolis on Wednesday beginning from Otigba junction to the Enugu State House of Assembly where the Chairman, of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the State, Comrade Virginus Nwobodo made a presentation described the National Assembly as a foundation for workers slavery.
In his words: You already know why we are here. It is a national protest to register our dismay to the Nigeria people, the world and especially to the National Assembly. To let them know we are not happy with their move to smartly outsmart us”.
“If the workers will begin to go cap-in-hand begging state governors to implement the new minimum wage; definitely our states will become worse than the era of slave labour, and we are saying no to their proposal to remove the National minimum wage from the Exclusive list. We are saying no and we must continue to fight it until they reverse their move”
Also,the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Enugu State chapter, Comrade Ben Asogwa added that workers are ready to down their tools if the National Assembly failed to reverse their position.
“Today we have stood up again to say no to the evil antics of the Nigerian leaders. And if the national assembly should go ahead and pass such bill, we will pass vote of no confidence on all of them. Every Nigerian worker must rise up and begin to speak against the ungodly nature of the people we have in government”
In his remarks, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers, (NUT) in Enugu State, Comrade Nweke Odo regretted that Primary School teachers and Local Government workers have not started receiving the N30,000 new minimum wage in Enugu State.
“Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has started paying the National minimum wage of thirty thousand naira to some workers, excluding primary school teachers and local government workers. I cannot forget to remind you that primary school teachers and local government workers who are not receiving the minimum wage in Enugu state are not happy. We are only keeping quiet because the committee setup by the state government to address it is working and we were assured that once they submit their recommendations that the state government will begin to pay and hopefully they would submit their recommendations at the end of this month”
Meanwhile, the deputy Speaker, Enugu state house of Assembly, Hon Uche Ugwu who welcomed and addressed the protesting workers, acknowledged the fact that a labourer deserves a decent wage.
Hon. Ugwu promised to table the plight of the workers before the state house of Assembly and promised to give the needed support from the state.
