A civil servant in Zamfara State, Alhaji Muktari Ahmed has described the State wings of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) as toothless bulldogs that can bark not bite.
Ahmed explained that the two Labour bodies have been making noise over the N30, 000 minimum wage, stressing that the government would have implemented the minimum wage if the two unions were serious about it.
He noted that the two unions were just treating the issue of N30,000 naira minimum wage with a mere wave of the hand.
Ahmed lamented that the issue of N30, 000 minimum wage is never a privilege, but workers’ right.
“The leaders of the unions are stooges of the State government and do not want anything that would stop what they are personally gaining from the government, hence they are betraying workers on sensitive issues,” he added.
He lamented that there were still most civil servants in the State on the old salaries of N18,000, which he said cannot buy a bag of rice, let alone hospital bills, house rent, school fees and many others.
Ahmed wondered how the civil servants were managing in the face of all the economic hardship that is escalating on a daily basis.
He accused the Labour Unions of double standard and sabotaging the civil servants’ interest, saying that they don’t have the courage to challenge the government on the issue of the minimum wage.
“Civil servants and pensioners are silently dying, especially the retired civil servants whose gratuities have not been paid for a number of years and their pensions are nothing to write home about,” he stated.
