Labour Vows Not To Shift Ground On N615,000 Demand.

Organised Labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union

Congress said, they will not accept the N48,000 minimum wage offer

proposed by the Federal Government, even though the organised private

sector had proposed an initial offer of N54,000 as a monthly living wage.

This is coming after the unions had dumped the minimum wage negotiation

after the Federal Government offered to pay N48,000, a figure far below the

N615,00 the unions were demanding as the new national minimum wage.

After abandoning the session, the furious labour leaders in an emergency

press conference vented their displeasure with the offer, stating that it was

“an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerian workers”.

This was the second time in two weeks that the negotiation had run into

trouble, while, in the last session, held on April 29, was deadlocked after

organised labour insisted on N615,000 minimum wage, and the Federal

Government disagreed with labour’s demand, stating that it was

unreasonable.

The National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said, the amount was arrived

at after analyzing the current economic situation and the needs of an

average Nigerian family of six, and blamed the government and the

Organized Private Sector for the breakdown in negotiation, saying that,

despite earnest efforts to reach an equitable agreement, the less than

reasonable action of the government and the organised private sector has

led to a breakdown in negotiations.

He stressed that labour would only come back to the negotiation table when

the FG shifts ground and consider paying workers a ‘worthy’ wage, adding

that, the government must consider food inflation, electricity tariff hikes and

the removal of fuel subsidy before coming up with any amount as the

minimum wage.