The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Organised Labour in Nigeria are staging a peaceful protest to kick against moves by the House of Representatives to remove the national minimum wage law from the Exclusive to the Concurrent List, Njenje Media News reports.
At the end of an emergency executive council meeting held last week, the decision to hold a nationwide protest was taken.
Addressing the workers at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, NLC and TUC Presidents, Ayuba Wabba and Quadri Olaleye said the national minimum wage enacted in 1981 by the Shehu Shagari administration remains a global standard set by the International Labour Organisation.
They say organised labour will not fold its arms and allow states to pay slave wages to their members, whom they say are already impoverished.
The contentious bill scaled the second reading on the floor of the House recently.
If passed into law, state governors will be empowered to pay their workers affordable pay as minimum wage.
But organised labour disagrees with states that they say they cannot pay the N30,000 minimum wage and urges them to think outside the box and cut down on political officers allowances and salaries.
