Following the Federal Government’s acceptance to add something to the N60,000 which was rejected by the organised labour, the workers vowed not to accept any lean addition by the government.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, hours after the Organised Labour comprising the TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) suspended its industrial action which started at 12:01 am on Monday.
“At the meeting on Friday, they (the tripartite committee) said they would not add anything more to the ₦60,000 but in the meeting of yesterday (Monday), Mr President was able to commit to doing what is more than ₦60,000,” Osifo said.
When asked whether Labour would accept a few thousand naira additions to the last offer of the tripartite committee, the TUC boss said, “No, we also told them that it’s not that we’d get to the table and you start adding ₦1, ₦2, ₦3,000 as you were doing and we got some good guarantees here and there that they would do something good.”
The organised labour had earlier proposed ₦494,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country, but Osifo said labour is not fixated on that amount.
He, however, insisted that the tripartite committee must show seriousness and offer workers something economically realistic in tandem with current inflationary pressures.
The tripartite committee meeting for a new national minimum wage has been meeting to agree on a new wage since the strike suspension.
The meeting, which is the fifth since the suspension of the industrial action by organised labour, is holding behind closed doors at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja.
Some prominent members of the committee are in attendance including the Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF); the Minister of Labour and Employment (State) Nkiruka Onyejeocha, the Governor of Imo State Hope Uzodimma; a representative of the Salaries, Income and Wages Commission; the Minister of Finance Wale Edun as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning Atiku Bagudu.
When the meeting was held on Thursday, members of the committee gave assurances that a figure may be announced on Friday.
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