NLC Asks Ogun to Reinstate Transport Allowance as Workers Wage
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the Ogun state government to convert the transport allowance paid to civil servants as palliative, to the workers wage.
It suggests that the expired N10,000 monthly transport allowance be reinstated, and raised to N25,000 for Civil Servants and N20,000 for Pensioners, as the workers wage.
The Ogun state NLC Chairman, Ahmed Benco Ademola, said the organized Labour had written to Governor Dapo Abiodun to approve its request for the proposed workers wage.
He said they are still awaiting the governor’s response to the request, while commending him for being the only one among the 36 state governors to introduce the transport allowance.
Benco Ademola also spoke on the promise of the governor to invite the state’s organized Labour for negotiating the new National Minimum Wage payable in the state.
According to him, Ogun state organized Labour would not enter into any negotiations with the state government for now, but await the NLC national headquarters’ directive on the proposed new wage.
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He explained that the state NLC would only meet with the state government after the national minimum wage negotiations are concluded and the NLC issued a directive to its state chapters to engage the state governments.
Abiodun noted that the state government had paid N2.8bn as leave bonuses to workers, while a sum of N13.4bn outstanding deductions had been paid to workers.
Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, assured workers in the state of his administration’s priority to their welfare.
He promised that his government would implement the minimum wage the Federal Government and the organised labour agreed to.
He said, I am overwhelmed with the level of turned out of workers to honour me on May Day. This is my first time in office. I was told that the union had not celebrated labour day for a while.
Here we are today again with the entire workforce of the public service acknowledging our modest contributions to the development of our dear state
We have commenced payment of salary callously and dubiously owed workers by the previous administration and we are going to step it up until the whole arrears are cleared.
He promised that his government would be allied with organised labour and Federal Government to implement any minimum wage agreed upon.
We have put in place necessary machinery to augment workers’ salary, he said, adding that the technical committee set up by the state government and the labour unions to negotiate for the new wage had commenced discussion.
