The newly elected President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Joe Ajaero has said the Congress will pursue a new national minimum wage with urgency.
He said this on Wednesday in his inauguration address delivered after he was sworn in as President of the NLC in Abuja.
Ajaero was elected president of the NLC at the 13th National Delegates Conference at the International Conference Centre Abuja.
He said: “The NLC will pursue with utmost urgency a new national minimum wage law that would take into consideration the objective realities of our socio-economy; expand its reach to capture more workers and create variables and thresholds for automatic adjustment of the nation’s wage floor to avoid unnecessary politicking and impunity by our employers and reduce the suffering of Nigerian workers.
“We are committed to resolutely pursuing the interests and desires of Nigerian workers and by extension the majority of Nigerian masses. We, therefore, pledge our loyalty to the NLC, Nigerian workers, Nigerian masses and Nigeria. Our breathe comrades, our thoughts and our actions shall be propelled by this avowal!
“We shall seek to reconnect more strongly to build greater solidarities with the people of Nigeria rising once again to be the carriers of their desires and amplifiers of their voices.
“We shall not only speak for the 133m Nigerians who are multidimensionally poor but shall also seek platforms to lift the shackles of poverty from the shoulders of our people. We shall once again be the true champions of the Nigerian people; crying their cries and jointly waging our wars against all forces of impoverishment and misery.”
The labour leader said the NLC would engage the Federal Government on how to cut down on the cost of governance; cut out fats and reduce the opportunities for fat cats to raid the economy