11042019 - INSECURITY: Senate condemns killings; insists on State Police

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28 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 08052202308 (sms only) FG, NASS shut out SMEs, others from N30,000 Minimum wage •Ministry of Labour, NIWC to monitor implementation Stories by Victor Young MANY workers hoping to benefit from the N30,000 minimum wage now waiting for its final approval by President Muhammadu Buhari, through his assent to the Minimum Wage Bill sent to him by the National Assembly over two weeks ago, will be disappointed to know that they have been shut out from the N30,000 minimum wage largesse. In fact, should the Bill be signed President Buhari, as passed by the National Assembly, the executive and legislature have given Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, employers the leeway to pay slave wage to their workers, besides other category of workers that have been exempted from benefitting from the new national minimum wage. In this pience, Vanguard brings to you some of the features of the Bill transmitted to President Buhari by the National Assembly for assent including the minimum wage threshold, which Organised Labour sees as a ploy by both the executive and the legislature to continue to enslave Nigerian workers. One of the features of the Bill awaiting Presidential assent is that the Tripartite Committee is being legalized with its secretariat domiciled in the National Income and Wages Commission. Also, the Ministry of Labour and Employment in collaboration with the National Income and Wages Commission, will monitor implementation of the minimum wage and report defaulting employers to Organised Labour among others. Provision of the Bill The Bill provides that any employer or Organisation employing less than 25 persons is not bound to pay N30,000 minimum wage to his or her least earner. Vanguard checks revealed that mostly affected by this exclusion are workers employed by the Small and Medium as they fall into the category of employers that employ less than 25 workers. According to the Bill: “The provisions of section 3 (1) of this Bill shall not apply to - (a) an establishment in which workers are employed on parttime basis; (b) an establishment at which workers are *President Muhammadu Buhari (m) flanked by <strong>Senate</strong> President Dr Bukola Saraki(l) and Speaker Yakubu Dogara at a function. paid on commission or on piece-rate; (c)an establishment employing less than 25 persons; (d) workers in seasonal employment such as agriculture; and (e) any person employed in a vessel or aircraft to which the laws regulating merchant shipping or civil aviation apply. Powers of Minister “The Minister of Labour and Employment shall, through the National Labour Advisory Council and by Order Pub- Maritime workers seek fresh biometric registration of dockworkers MARITIME Workers Un ion of Nigeria, MWUN, is demanding for a fresh registration and documentation of dockworkers across seaports in the country by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA. This came as MWUN threatened to take on terminal operators who engage unregistered dockworkers, denying authentic dockworkers and union members their rightful jobs. President General of MWUN, Adewale Adeyanju, who spoke while addressing a cross section of dockworkers at a Branch Working Committee meeting of leaders of the Dockworkers' branch of the union, in, Apapa Lagos. He said the previous biometric card issued by NIMASA did not contain accurate information on the dockworkers and urged NIMASA to put machinery in •Tripartite committee now legalized The Bill provides that any Organisation employing less than 25 persons is not bound to pay N30,000 minimum wage motion to ensure that all dockworkers were registered and given biometric identity card. According to him, the management of NIMASA had assured the union that the next round of identity cards would contain all the data of dockworkers and seafarers PETROLEM Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has commended the appointment of Olawale Afolabi, as NUPENG’s General Secretary, saying it will help move the union forward. In a statement by Alhaji) Saheed Adigun, Deputy Chairman (1), PTD Lagos Zone, the branch noted that the appointment was well deserved and lauded lished in the Federal Government Gazette grant other exemptions as he deems necessary in the interest of the national economy taking into consideration reports from National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission or such other body that may make representation for exemption.” Labour reacts Reacting to this development, President of Trade Union Congress of such as date of birth and other vital information, saying “they promised giving it to us but up till now we have not heard from them. We are appealing to them to expedite action on these issues. The stevedoring contractors have trained dockworkers to the present standard, but we want NUPENG’s National Administrative Council, NAC, headed by the union’s President, Prince Williams Akporeha, for the appointment. The statement read in part “Afolabi is widely known as a resilient and quintessential unionist, who has been on the labour movement turf for over 20 years. Truly, with his versatility of experience and leadership excellence in NUPENG, particularly in the Nigeria, TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, faulted the threshold pegging payment to employers that employ 25 workers. According to him, “our worries is this issue of threshold which was inserted by the executive that only employers that employ 25 persons and above in their organisations can pay the N30,000 minimum wage. It is unfair and unacceptable. It is a ploy by the executive and legislature to continue to enslave Nigerian workers.” Below is the detail of the bill as passed by the National Assembly, titled “A BILL FOR ACT TO REPEAL THE NA- TIONAL MINIMUM WAGE ACT, NO. 6, 1981 AS AMENDED, CAP N61, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 AND ENACT THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE BILL, 2019 TO PRE- SCRIBE A NATIONAL MINI- MUM WAGE FOR WORKERS AND RELATED MATTERS.” The objective of the Bill is to prescribe the National Minimum Wage and provide for a legal framework for a seamless review of the national Minimum Wage within the period specified under the Bill. The provisions of this Bill shall apply throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Read full story on www.vanguardngr.com NIMASA who happens to be our regulatory agency, who supposed to midwife between the dockworkers and the terminal operators to come onboard and make sure that the biometric identity card that was issued to us about four years ago is long overdue for updating." Appointment of Afolabi as NUPENG ' scribe excites PTD diligent handling of Education and Training of the rank and file of the Union will make him provide unique exemplary leadership to trade unionism in general, and also in improving on the achievements of his predecessors, while also engendering the goals and policy thrust of the Union. I am convinced that his vision of making NUPENG the centre of distinction in the world would be achieved.
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11042019 - INSECURITY: Senate condemns killings; insists on State Police

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