Workers Vow To Resist N27,000 Minimum Wage

Civil servants in Rivers State have vowed to resist the N27, 000.00 new minimum wage, approved by the National Council of State, last Tuesday.
Chairman of Nigerian Civil Service Union, Rivers State, Mr Opuoyibo Lily-West, stated this in a chat with The Tide in his office, yesterday.
Lily-West noted that it was insensitive of the Council of States to make such approval.
He said the N30, 000.00 new minimum Wage recommended by the Tripartite Committee on Review of National minimum wage should not be subjected to debate given that it is on the exclusive list of the Federal Government.
He stated that it is a ploy to undermine the efforts of workers in the country and to keep them in perpetual poverty.
Lily-West reasoned that the Council of States ought not to have tampered with the agreed new minimum wage of N30, 000.00 given that the original amount was N56, 000.00, and that the organised labour had agreed to review it downwards to N30, 000.00.
According to him, “What we proposed to the Federal Government was N56, 000.00; I fail to understand why the council of states would review it downwards to N27, 000.00.
He warned that the organised labour would resist any attempt to leave the new minimum wage at N27, 000.00, saying: “Our stand is that we must take the N30, 000.00. We will resist it”.
He further said, “the organised labour will embark on a nationwide strike if the N30, 000.00 is not adopted nationwide. We will shut every sector down”.