Minimum Wage: Workers Must Rekindle the Struggle

Minimum Wage: Workers Must Rekindle the Struggle

By this time last years, Nigerian workers had started battling governments over the issue of minimum wage. Indeed, 2011 can be said to be a year of minimum wage battle for Nigerian workers. Sometimes in 2009, workers, organized under the two main trade union centres – NLC and TUC – had demanded for a minimal N52, 200 for the least paid worker in Nigeria, which was premised among other factors, on the flying inflation and the ever-increasing costs of living. These are ably caused by increasing energy cost coupled with the collapse of social infrastructures, and privatization cum commercialization of public social services. Flowing from the fact that of unprecedented poverty rate in contradistinction to the huge wealth gap between the handful rich and the majority poor, it should be crystal clear that the N52, 200 minimum wage is indeed a modest demand by the labour movement.

However, Nigerian pro-capitalist political class, in its current backward form, is not motivated by glaring facts and reasons especially when its class interests are affected. This explains its downright rejection of workers demand for improved wages. However, after long drawn battles, and fearful of the political repercussion of refusing improvement in workers’ wages especially in an election period (March/April), the capitalist class, represented by the politicians in power agreed to a meager wage increment to N18, 000 as a minimum wage for any worker. Despite the labour leadership’s celebration of this ‘feat’ – and of course its subsequent support for the Jonathan candidature (both covertly and overtly) – it was glaring that the various capitalist governments at all levels, and of course, their private sector counterpart, are united in rubbishing any gain from this little increment. They indeed were hiding under the cover of elections. The capitalist politicians at all levels, majority of whom dangled the carrot of minimum wage implementation to seek for votes from workers did not wait much after the elections, before reneging on the promise of implementing the wage, which by that time had become a law.

No Trust in Capitalist Politicians

This political treachery against workers is itself a product of lack of a revolutionary political platform of the working people, which would have put full implementation of a minimum living wage on the agenda, aside other mass public work programmes. As we in DSM have always maintained that workers cannot be relying on their class enemies – those whose source of wealth derives from exploitation and chronic reduction of workers’ share of society’s wealth – to implement programmes and policies that will advance the interests of workers. This underlines the need for workers to organize their own political party that will commit public resources and wealth to mass public work programmes that will lift millions of working people and youths out of want, and provide a decent means of living for them. This will be against the current capitalist arrangement where politics is mainly in the interest of the rich few, who constitute just a percent of the population but consumes over 80 percent of the nation’s oil wealth. But this presupposes that such a working people’s party will have as a fundamental objective the public takeover of the mainstays of the country’s economy that is currently under the stranglehold of the Nigeria’s rich few and their multinational paymasters as a way of liberating public resources  from the hands of the rich few.

Such public ownership will have to be done in a democratic manner by putting all the facets of the economy and the social infrastructures under the democratic control and management by elected representatives of working people, communities, relevant professional groups, etc, so as to guise against the corruption and bureaucracy that killed hitherto publicly owned enterprises and services. Such a party will maintain that public officers must live the life of people they represent by collecting average wage of skilled workers while their families will patronize public institutions (public schools and hospitals). Only a party organized along this path that can mobilize the huge resources of the country in the service of the collective interests of the working and toiling population. Such a party will sincerely guarantee adequate living wage for workers while providing millions of decent and secure jobs for millions of able-bodied people. It is such party that can ensure genuinely free and quality education (at all levels) and healthcare (at the point of use), without making people suffer unduly.

Despite the noise of the capitalist political class about rule of law, all the politicians in power in all their shades and pretensions refused to implement the minimum wage law to the letter. Of course, some state governments like Lagos, Rivers, etc paid better wages than other state governments; but aside the fact they did not fully implement the wage law, they actually used this to cover up mismanagement of huge resources at their disposal. On the contrary, Nigerians were threatened and blackmailed to either accept the old wage relation or risk hike in fuel price, as a basis for minimum wage implementation; a case of choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. This was first stated by no other person than a governor from an opposition party (ACN), Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State. This fact emphasizes the position of socialists that the capitalist class, in its incurably exploitative character, is always prepared to take back, possibly in manifold, whatever concession it is forced to give to the workers – a point which further raises the need for workers, and their unions to also struggle for political power. This attitude of the capitalist politicians in power, indeed met with mass resistance of workers who were prepared to defend the little gains they have forced the capitalist class t concede.

Learning from the Past

As a result of the workers’ doggedness to fight, some concessions were made by many of the state governments in terms of marginal increase in workers’ wages. However, with the benefit of hindsight, we believe that workers would have achieved more if the labour leadership had taken the revolutionary road of mobilizing the ranks of the working people across the country to force governments at all levels to concede to workers’ demands. For instance, from the start of the struggle in 2009, when workers were demanding N52, 200 minimum wage, the DSM had canvassed in our various publications (including the Socialist Democracy) and statements that the labour leadership must start the process of mobilizing the ranks of the workers through mass rallies, protest marches, mobilization materials, etc for Days of Actions that will bring the fight to the doorsteps of the capitalist governments. We called for warning strikes to force the governments at all levels to understand the readiness of the workers to defend their wage demand. We also highlighted the need for the labour leadership to link the demand for N52, 200 with other fundamental socio-economic demands that will improve the conditions of the working and oppressed people in general. More importantly, as we raised, is the need for labour movement to start to put together a political party of its own, that will implement these programmes on socialist basis, as the working people cannot fully realize better living conditions when their class enemies are the ones deciding the distribution of the society’s wealth and resources.

Unfortunately, the labour leadership, though correctly raising the need for improved wage system for workers, was not prepared to go the whole hog to take the revolutionary road; rather it aligned itself with a reformist and ‘trade unionist’ method of appealing to the reason of various sections of the capitalist government. At a time, the general strike called by the labour leaders, in reaction to the obstinate decision of all governments to implement the new wage law, was called off at midnight, on false and faulty premise of promise by the federal government and some handful state governments to start paying the new wage from April 2011. When most of the state governments reneged and a started paying a dubious ‘relativity wage’, the national leadership of labour, while rejecting the so-called relativity way, only asked the state chapters of the labour centres to start negotiating with their various state governments. This is indeed a defeatist policy of the national leadership to run away from leading workers in this struggle.

It is a common fact that most of the state leadership of labour are more or less like extensions of their various state governments. While they may occasionally be forced by mass pressure from below to fight, these leaders only find crooked ways along the line to abandon the struggle or lead workers to defeat through rotten agreements with governments. In many cases, many of these state labour leaders will even talk tough and sound radical; a method used to disguise their preparedness to sell workers’ out. Of course, this does not mean revolutionary organization will then abandon such struggle; on the contrary, such opportunity will be used to mobilize the ranks of the workers to defend more actions that are militant and far reaching, beyond the comprehension of the labour leaders. The atomization of minimum wage struggle by the national leadership of labour gave the governments at all levels a leeway to avoid implementing the meager N18, 000 minimum wage which, as said earlier, actually falls far below the cost of living. In fact, most of the private sector employers have refused to implement the new minimum wage, while the labour leaders in a meeting with President Jonathan in December over fuel subsidy removal publicly, announced that even federal workers had not been paid the minimum wage!

Rekindling the Struggle on Revolutionary Basis

However, on the basis of the nefarious hike in fuel prices, which has led to spiraling inflation and cost of living, it is necessary for workers to rekindle the struggle for not only N18, 000 minimum wage, but indeed for a new minimum wage that will reflect the new economic realities. It is noteworthy that most of the state governments, in escaping from implementing the N18, 000, promised to implement the minimum wage when their revenues improve. While this should not have been accepted as excuse, the fact that most of these state governments have refused to fulfill this promise despite having seen a significant increase in their revenues since late last years again echoes the fact that workers cannot put their trust in the promises and mien of capitalist governments. According to Economic Confidential, over N700 billion was shared by the three tiers of governments in December as excess crude oil windfall. This is against the background that crude oil price is now selling for close to $120 a barrel in the world market, which has meant a huge increase in wealth available to the governments. Nigeria’s oil minister was quoted sometimes in late 2011 that Nigeria earns over N40 billion daily from crude oil; an amount that is enough to wipe poverty out of the faces of millions of Nigerians. Yet, in February 2012, BBC came with a damning report that 100 million Nigerians are living on less than a dollar a day – a very conservative data. Indeed, millions of workers and their dependants will form the bulk of this impoverished population. This is without factoring the negative implications of the recent obnoxious hike in fuel prices.

Therefore, it is necessary that workers must start the campaign to kickoff the struggle for the full implementation of the minimum wage across the boards – including the private sector; while also raising the need for a N52, 200 minimum wage. Workers must start to put their unions and their leaders to task on this. This will require that the various state leadership call gatherings and congresses of workers with a view to mobilizing them for mass actions to compel the backward capitalist governments to immediate implement the N18, 000 minimum wage without loss of pay, retrenchment and attack on already abysmal working conditions of workers. This should be linked together with a national campaign and struggle to be led by the central labour leaders to compel all capitalist employers including the private sector to start the implementation. A Day of Action must be declare with a 24 hour warning strike to highlight the readiness to workers to defend their demand. Mass mobilization should commence with action committees set up at local levels while mass production of leaflets and other educative materials must commence immediately.

More than this, workers must realize the need to link this demand for minimum wage implementation with other fundamental socio-economic demands that will greatly improve the living conditions of the oppressed and working people in general. While any improvement in workers’ wages will be welcome, it should be realized that no amount wage increment will ultimately resolve the economic agony faced by the working people. Unless the workers, mobilizing other oppressed strata, demand for mass programmes of massive improvement in public infrastructures and social services that will tens of millions of poor people from poverty and ensure better living conditions for the oppressed and poor people in general, the suffering faced by the working people will not stop.

However, it will be illusory for the working people to believe that the capitalist class currently organized in ruling political parties in Nigeria today can implement the programmes that will infringe on their wealth-accumulation interests. As explained earlier, only a mass working people’s political party built on the strong foundation of revolutionary socialism can challenge the current capitalist class politically and overthrow it. It is a government established by such party can truly liberate the working people and lead them in successful revolution to change the society in the interest of the working but oppressed people of Nigeria. Nigerian working people have shown their willingness to struggle for change; they only need a revolutionary platform and a clear-headed leadership.

Kola Ibrahim

Sunday, 19/02/2012