The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Monday in Abuja urged the Nigerian workers not to lose hope in the fight for the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage.
Mrs Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, made the call at an interactive meeting with leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and various workers unions in the country.
“I want to congratulate you on your fight for the new minimum wage, do not be deterred.
“If we don’t have a wage raise everywhere, we will not save the economy here in Nigeria; we will not put new blood into the economy around the world.
“The European countries, the Asians countries, the African countries and the Latin American countries are absolutely committed to a global wage raise.
“Because if we do not raise wages, the dignity of living for our family will simply not be there.
“So your work among other things is to fight for a minimum wage so that you can live with dignity, ‘’she said.
Burrow urged workers to continue to live in dignity by using collective bargaining power to secure their work and put an end to cooperate greed of government and organisations.
She, however, called on workers not to relent on the issues of better welfare, rights, living wage among others as most governments around the world are using corporate greed to oppose workers.
“So, you are workers’ hope, thank you for the work, it is hard work, you know the obstacles because you are their leaders, so we must work together to end corporate greed, ‘’she said.
ITUC general secretary said that the interactive meeting was to understand issues that affect workers and ways to resolving it.
Also speaking, Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, said that through experience shared with the ITUC General Secretary, it was observed that the Nigerian Labour issues were not different from that of the rest of the world.
“That workers are being sacked; outsourcing was the order of the day, poor wages among others.
“That is why this is an opportunity, for all of us to actually engage in interaction and this is not going to be easy.
“Because nothing that we have gotten as working class has actually being a gift to us, we have always struggled to arrive at where we are today.
“Therefore, it is through collective struggle that we can also achieve what we want to achieve,” he said.
Wabba called for stronger collaboration among unions in ensuring that workers’ rights and privileges are given due attention by the government.
He commended the ITUC General Secretary, for her continuous intervention and advice on the issue concerning workers around the world.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ITUC General Secretary and some other delegates from Ghana, US, Zambia, Kenya, Senegal, among others were in Nigeria for a meeting tagged “Coordinators Meeting.’’ (NAN)