*TUC Open To Negotiations With Govt On Proposal, Says Osifo
*Govt, Workers Have Agreed On Wage Increase– Oshiomhole
THE current negotiations for a new minimum wage between the Federal Government and the organised Labour appear deadlocked following the inability of the two parties to reach a consensus on the issue.
This much was indicated by President Bola Tinubu in his speech during this year’s Workers’ Day celebration in Abuja, on Wednesday, May 1, and by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who faulted workers’ insistence on the N615,000 minimum wage.
Onanuga said government and labour unions had not agreed on the amount for the minimum wage.
The senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, a former labour leader, said Nigerian workers and the Federal Government, as well as state governments, had agreed on the need to increase the minimum wage.
Oshiomhole, speaking on a television programme on Wednesday, May 1, said all concerned parties acknowledged that the current minimum wage of N30,000 is outdated and should be increased to meet with rising cost of living.
“I think there is some unanimity among employers, including private employers and obviously the Federal Government and I believe state governments, that the current minimum wage of 30,000 is a joke.
“There is a recognition of the fact that the purchasing power of the workers across the board, including directors, permanent secretaries, not to talk of those on levels one to four, has dropped radically and you need to beef it up. In a market economy, there are even countries where wages are indexed to the weight of inflation.
“So, I think there is a shared commitment that wages should go up and go up radically as much as prices have skyrocketed,” he said.
But the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, defended workers’ demand of N615, 000 as minimum wage, insisting that the organised labour would not accept any amount that would impoverish its members.
Tinubu, in January this year set up a tripartite committee, comprising the government, labour and private sector representatives, to review the N30,000 minimum wage introduced by the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The two umbrella bodies of the organised labour- the NLC and Trade Unions Congress (TUC), submitted a N615,000 proposal to the committee.
The federal government failed to announce the new minimum wage during the May Day celebration on Wednesday, as it had not accepted labour’s demand and could instead be looking at between N60,000 and N70,000; hence the stalemate in negotiations.
Ajaero explained that the last minimum wage of N30,000 had expired on April 18, even as he described as mischievous, the pay rise of between 25 and 35 per cent for civil servants across various consolidated salary structures announced by the Federal Government on Tuesday, April 30.
He stated: “We should be in the regime of a new minimum wage as of today. Discussions were supposed to have been concluded.
“The Federal Government, through the National Assembly, legislated on it, but we saw that the discussion entered voice mail, because the Federal Government refused to reconvene the meeting that was adjourned.
“I think the announcement now appears mischievous, because there is no wage increase that the government is announcing. For them to announce it now, it is an issue that we are worried about at the NLC and even at the TUC.”
The NLC president said organised labour had agreed on N615,000 per month as the living wage for civil servants. And Tinubu has assured that his administration was poised to give workers better living and working conditions through “a fair living wage.”
The President, in his address to workers, said despite its efforts, the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage was unable to reach a consensus at its last meeting with organised labour.
“This shall be resolved soon and I assure you that your days of worrying are over. Indeed, this government is open to the committee’s suggestion of not just a minimum wage, but a living wage,” he stated.
Indeed, Onanuga said: “Ajaero told the public today they were asking for N615,000 per month as minimum wage. So, where will the money come from? Do we have that kind of money to pay? The government cannot afford any minimum wage that it cannot pay.
“So, the President is hoping that maybe at their next meeting, everybody will come to some reasonable agreement that would reflect what the government and the private sector can pay.”
Meanwhile, TUC said the proposed N615,000 minimum wage is open to negotiation from the government.
Its President, Festus Osifo, said during a television programme on Thursday, May 2 that the TUC was open to conversations and bargaining with government.
“The amount that we put forward, in reality, we also understand from organised labour, when you are going for collective bargaining agreement, you would do your study, you know what is practically feasible and possible, you’ve done your analysis.
“What we have put forward is what we think will be the living wage, and we have justification for that. But it is a negotiation. When you go into negotiations, we are also expecting a counter-offer from the government side. We enter into conversations.
“We are open to have conversations; we are not forcing our position that the government must implement, either take it or leave it, no. But it is a negotiation, so we bring all our negotiation experts and tools to the table, we try to make the government understand why they must make the workers a priority.”
Osifo said despite the reassurances of various state governors to look into the matter, most state were still struggling to pay the former minimum wage, adding: “Every Workers’ Day, you have governors coming to the podium and making big announcements, but when you leave there, how many of these announcements are sought through? How many of them do see the light of the day?
“When you listen to those comments, you would be thinking that, yes, you have a lot of big statements coming up. Regrettably, over the years, we just see this as majorly rhetoric.
“In TUC, we had a NEC meeting about a week ago. So, we did an analysis across each state of the federation. If you remember when we signed the agreement with the federal government on October 2, last year, it had the provision of a wage award.
“We asked the various states to liaise with their respective state governors and see what could be done on how they will bring about the N35,000 wage award. Most of these states did nothing; a few states did.”
