RIVERS STATE COUNCIL OF NLC CALLS ON THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY TO REJECT MOVES BY FEDERAL LAWMAKERS TO PERSUADE IT TO IMPOSE OBNOXIOUS LAWS THAT WOULD AFFECT WORKERS IN THE STATE.

The Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC has called on the State House of Assembly to reject moves by Federal Lawmakers to persuade it to impose obnoxious laws that would affect workers in the State.

The State Chairperson of NLC, Comrade Beatrice Itubo during a peaceful protest by workers to the Assembly said the bill seeking to transfer National Minimum Wage issues from the Exclusive to the Concurrent list was not acceptable because wages were usually negotiated all over the world.

Mrs Itubo who stated that National Minimum Wage was a product of negotiations between Labour, the organized private sector and the government said a number of issues were taken into consideration with data provided by relevant Federal and State Institutions and Agencies.

According to her, the proposed transfer if allowed to go through would give State Governors the License to drag the Country back to the era of slave wages, exponential creation and expansion of a community of the working poor with attendant consequences and exclusion of the private sector from the concept.

Receiving the letter from the National Secretariat of NLC through the State Chairperson of NLC the Clerk of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Standford Oba thanked Labour and promised to hand over the letter to the Speaker of the House.