Labour Abandons Minimum Wage Negotiation Meeting Over ‘Ridiculous Offer’ From Government

The organized labour on Wednesday abandoned a meeting of the tripartite committee on new minimum wage due to the ‘ridiculous offer’ made by the federal government and the Organized Private Sector (OPS).

According to sources quoted by Vanguard, the government offered ₦48,000 while the OPS offered ₦54,000 as the new minimum wage.

The source added that the government did not also provide any data to back up its proposed figures.

Naija News reports that after the zonal hearings on the new minimum wage, the organized labour had adopted ₦615,000 as the proposed new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

In protest of the figure proposed by the government and OPS, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) walked out of the meeting which was held virtually.

A labour leader, who was part of the meeting, said the federal government was not serious about giving workers a living wage.

“What the government has presented to us is wage reduction. This government is not serious about giving workers a living wage,” the labour leader said.

During Wednesday’s meeting, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), had earlier declared that the least worker in the private sector was paid ₦78,000.

After storming out of the meeting, the NLC and TUC have scheduled an emergency press briefing to present the federal government’s position to workers and their next line of action.