Everything You Need to Know about Nigerian Workers' Strike

In a copy of the resolution that’s been widely circulated across news publications and social media, leaders of labor unions will meet with the government and organized private sector leaders everyday for the next week to agree on the definite amount of the new minimum wage. The resolution document was signed by NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, and TUC president, Comrade Festus Osifo.

The suspension of the strike has been met by Nigerians with a shrug, since many expected the NLC to take this exact action. “The NLC had a chance to gain the trust and faith of the people and what did they do? What we knew they were gonna do, absolutely nothing,” X user @Mr_Lu3se wrote in a post.

While the NLC said it’s only relaxing the strike for a week and would resume if terms of a new minimum wage is not set by then, responses to its X post have echoed the expected disappointment, especially as the entire country has been made uncomfortable by the strike due to the nationwide electricity blackout.

“You want to settle for 60k and you people are disturbing the little peace we manage,” X user @__Sonofglory wrote in his response to NLC’s announcement. “Bring light back. That is the only issue I have with your strike.”

On Monday, the government had appealed for labor unions to return to the negotiating table. “Let me make it clear that we are not opponents on this negotiating table. We are united by the fact that we want the best for the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all 200 million citizens of the country,” minister of information and national orientation, Mohammed Idris, said during a press briefing in the capital, Abuja.

Labor unions are demanding an over 1,000 percent increase in the minimum wage, citing the skyrocketing cost of living in the country since the removal of fuel subsidies a year ago. The unions had been agitating for a minimum wage review for months, but it aggressively improved its effort in April, setting a deadline for a strike for May 31 at the beginning of May.

At last Friday’s meeting, the federal government and organized private sector offered N60,000 ($40.35) as the new minimum wage, saying that the labor’s proposed amount was unsustainable. During his briefing, Idris said the N494,000 ($332.21) demand would take the federal government’s wage bill alone to over N9.5 trillion ($6.3 billion), and the exorbitant cost to state governments and the private sector could lead to loss of jobs and potentially cripple the economy.

Meanwhile, NLC and TUC are taking a hardline stance, stating that the situation of the country demands the sum. The last minimum wage increase took place under former President Muhammadu Buhari and the bill stipulates that the next review should happen within the next five years. The timeframe elapsed in April, and labor is taking the government to task with this strike.

The strike has led to nationwide electricity downtime, as workers in the country’s transmission company shut down the national grid, a stoppage in the distribution and sale of petrol, closure of federal and state government offices, skeletal hospital services and reduced movement across the country as airports have been shut down. Dozens of unions have joined the strike, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria and many more workers unions in critical sectors.

Members of the National Assembly called on the labor unions to suspend the strike, however, leaders and top members of the unions have reacted to the appeals with annoyance. “For them to know where it pains us, let the senate put their salary on this minimum wage too and let’s see what will happen. I mean, let it go round,” former NLC treasurer and current chairman of MHWUN, Bamgbose Bettysaid in an interview.

The shutting down of several essential services had led to debates on social media, as to whether the shutting off of the electricity grid and the embargo on air travel did more harm than good. A lot of it stems from the lack of trust in the efficacy of the NLC’s strike action, as it has called for strikes only to pull out a day before or abandon them after one or two days, as they have now effectively done.

It remains to be seen how things will pan out after the week-long negotiations between the unions and the government.