TUC demand Increase in Minimum Wage for Workers to N200,000

TUC demand Increase in Minimum Wage for Workers to N200,000

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) Rivers State chapter has called for a significant increase in the minimum wage of civil servants in the state.

The demand was made on Monday by the state TUC chairman, Samuel Ogan, when a civil society organisation, Defence for Human Rights and Democracy, paid a visit to the TUC Centre in Port Harcourt.

Ogan urged the Rivers State Government to approve a 150 per cent salary increment for workers, a move that would raise the state’s current minimum wage from N80,000 to N200,000 per month.

According to him, the proposed increase has become necessary due to the difficult economic conditions in the country and the wide gap between the earnings of civil servants and workers in the private sector.

Speaking on the issue, the TUC chairman said: “If you walk into some of these offices that you call private sector, they don’t earn, get revenue as much as the states. But if you go there, you have cleaners earning a hundred thousand. Some two hundred thousand.

“The states can do better. And together with us, we can do better. There’s money in Rivers State and we’ll help the government channel this money rightly, for the residents and the citizens of Rivers State”.

Ogan, who heads a faction of the TUC in the state, also appealed to Governor Siminalayi Fubara to recognise and engage with his leadership.

He explained that efforts had already been made at the national level to formally notify the governor about the union’s position.

Ogan stated: “work” with his group, adding “immediately after the election of this council that held on 30th of October, the national (executive) has formally written to the governor of Rivers State.

“All we require is for the governor to respond to that letter. And once he does that response, we shouldn’t be where we are.

“Yes, we understand that the governor is a civil servant, and it’s only necessary that he would have some sympathy for his colleagues on the other side. But he should be aware. that trade union is not politics, and when we are doing trade unionism, we don’t involve politics in it,” he stated.

The TUC chairman maintained that improving workers’ welfare should be a priority for the state government, stressing that Rivers State has enough resources to meet the demands of its workforce.