December 4th, 2024
The Kaduna chapter of NLC has suspended its strike over the non-payment of the minimum wage to workers in the state.
The strike was put on hold for seven days to give the state government time to revisit its payment template, which was rejected by the labour union due to certain inconsistencies.
This was made known to the newsmen on Tuesday by the NLC chairman in Kaduna State, Ayuba Suleiman.
“We rejected the payment because it exempted some workers, paid some less, and paid some more. We want a uniform payment template that reflects the new minimum wage,” he said.
Suleiman expressed gratitude to the workers for their support during the strike.
“We thank you for your compliance, and we assure you that your interests are our priority. You can now return to work tomorrow morning, and we will continue to fight for your rights,” he said, while commending the National Monitoring Committee for giving the union the go-ahead to suspend the strike.
“We contacted the NLC National Monitoring Committee, and they gave us the go-ahead to suspend the strike. We are confident that the state government will revisit its payment template and come up with a uniform payment structure that reflects the new minimum wage,‘’ he explained.
However, Governor Uba Sani’s Chief Press Secretary, Ibraheem Musa, clarified that the issue was related to salary adjustments, not the minimum wage itself.
The least paid worker in Kaduna State received N72,000 in November,” Musa said, adding, “The issue is not about the minimum wage but about the consequential adjustments. We urge patience, as the state’s limited revenue, which comprises an average monthly allocation of N8bn from the Federal Account Allocation Committee and N4bn in internally generated revenue, makes it difficult to implement the adjustments immediately.”