New Minimum Wage: Organised Labour, FG Meet To Resolve Crisis

Members of the of labour unions, organised private sector and top government officials, are currently meeting to strategies and possibly resolve the on going crisis over the minimum wage for workers.

The meeting is taking place at the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) in Abuja.

The meeting is aimed at signing the final report on the minimum wage and forward it to the Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), for onward transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The labour unions has threatened to begin an indefinite strike on Monday’s midnight, if the government does not meet their demands.

While the federal government is maintaining its earlier proposal to pay N24,000 to workers; the governors under the aegis of Nigeria’s Governors Forum (NGF) have proposed to pay N22,500, while labour unions are insisting on N30,000.

Chris Ngige, minister of labour, had disclosed that the federal government had rejected the N22,500 minimum wage proposed by the governors.

“If you make a law and hoax a figure that is not agreeable, which people don’t have the capacity or ability to pay because the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says in those negotiations, the principle is the ability to pay,” the minister had said.

On Sunday, labour leaders were absent at a meeting convened by government.