The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged electorate in the country to vote out en masse any governor that does not approve of the new agitated national minimum wage of N30, 000 monthly.
This position was canvassed over the weekend at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos by Comrade Amaechi Asugwuni, the Vice President of the union during the inauguration of the new National Administrative Council (NAC) of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE).
Asugwuni insisted that the electorate had the power to vote out such governors in the forthcoming general elections in 2019 and urged them to use their power for such.
He insisted that there was no reason for governors not to pay the new minimum wage as soon as all processes had been concluded.
According to him, some governors had officially written to the NLC that they would implement the new minimum wage as soon as it went through the required processes, stressing that no governor should decline the payment of such amount of money to its workers monthly.
He said: “I am telling Nigerians that any governor that undermined the payment of minimum wage should be voted out. They are hiding under the governors’ forum not to pay, but they have confirmed to us and written us that they can pay the minimum wage.
“N30, 000 is not even the money that can take anybody home. The President as a matter of urgency should transmit that minimum wage document to the National Assembly.”
Asugwuni declared that there was no going back on the new minimum wage and urged workers to gear up for the great battle ahead in order to ensure that the struggle continued without hindrance should any of the governors or even the presidency refused to pay.
He called on the newly inaugurated executive of NUATE to put their house in order and forge ahead, saying, that the aviation industry remained one of the strongest affiliates of the NLC hence the president of the NLC visited the new NUATE President within a month after election.
Asugwuni said he had confidence in the new executive to ensure that the welfare of workers in the aviation sector remained paramount and urged that everybody be carried along in decision making.
He noted that some unions after elections would disintegrate, but noted that NUATE had remained stronger after the election, indicating that there was unity among them.
The NLC boss urged all the elected officers to continue to work with the president as he alone could not steer the leadership of the union to greater heights without the cooperation of all.
Comrade Ben Nnabue, the new President of NUATE, responding after the inauguration, promised to carry everybody along by remaining focus in executing his programmes.
Nnabue assured that no worker would be allowed to be victimised by the management under his regime and warned that issues affecting members would be handled with utmost care.
He remarked that with the inauguration of NUATE NAC that the union was set to commence action on its activities.
While thanking the NLC Vice President for honouring the invitation, he assured that the executive would strive to play according to the rules, insisted that the new excos would not betray the confidence reposed on them.
He also urged all workers to cooperate with the new team in order to lift the aviation industry and the union up.
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