• Meeting adjourned to today over absence of NGF
• OPS may shift ground if FG pushes further
Organised labour has again rejected the N54,000 proposed by the Federal Government as a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, saying it could not settle for a proposal that would result in income reduction for federal workers who are already receiving N77,000.
Meanwhile, the new figure aligns with that of the Organised Private Sector’s (OPS) N54,000 proposal presented at the last negotiation, where representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) had walked out. They had maintained that the initial N48,000 proposed by the Federal Government and N54,000 by the OPS insulted the sensibilities of Nigerian workers and failed to meet their needs.
The N54,000 figure was proposed yesterday at the ongoing tripartite negotiation comprising the Federal Government, labour and the OPS, with NLC and TUC saying the amount still fell below their expectations and urging the government to get serious and give workers a fair wage.
A member of the tripartite committee and National Treasurer of NLC, Hakeem Ambali, told The Guardian that labour cannot continue the negotiation based on N54,000 until the government comes to par with what is already on the ground, which is the N77,000 being received by Federal Government workers.
Asked if there is a figure labour was expecting, Ambali said: “We have not settled for any figure except N615,000 as of today (yesterday). Maybe, by tomorrow (today) when we meet for another round of negotiation and the government comes out with a reasonable figure, we will look at it.”
He urged the government to consider all socioeconomic indices as itemised by labour including rent, feeding and medicals when labour defended how it arrived at the N615,000 wage proposal, which it termed a living wage that could take care of a family of six, considering current socioeconomic indicators.
“We don’t want arbitrary increment. Let us look at these things and negotiate within the context of the socioeconomic indices affecting the country. We are expecting government to come up with data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that counters what labour has presented. Let them come up with an analysis that can contend with what labour has submitted,” he said.
Findings by The Guardian have indicated that the OPS may also shift ground, pushing the proposed N54,000 higher if the government increases its offer further.
A top member from the OPS, who is also a member of the tripartite committee from the private sector, who doesn’t want his name in print, confirmed that if the government increases the minimum wage, they too may align with the government.
However, the source declined to give any figure when pressed further, saying the committee adjourned the negotiations to today, to hear from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) what it intends to propose.
