*Labour May Accept N100,000
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu had directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, to prepare the cost implications of a new minimum wage and present an affordable, sustainable and realistic figure as the Federal Government tries to finalise an agreement with Labour on the vexed issue.
Tinubu also directed those involved in the negotiation to expedite action, so that everything on the new minimum wage could be concluded as soon as possible.
The Federal Government had at various stages of negotiation, offered N48,000, N57,000 and N60,000 as new minimum wage, but Labour rejected the offers, settling for over N400,000 and embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike on Monday, June 3, which was suspended on the second day, following assurance from government.
But to stave off the continuation of the strike after the one-week moratorium, Tinubu summoned the Federal Government’s representatives in the tripartite committee to a meeting in his office, attended by Edun; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; and Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari.
Speaking after the meeting on how the Federal Government’s team had been negotiating with Labour and if the issue could be resolved within the next seven days, Idris said: “It has been quite challenging, but we thank God that we are at this point. We thank labour that its leaders have suspended the strike.
“On government’s side, the President has just summoned a meeting of all those negotiating on behalf of the Federal Government, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to look at those issues.
“The President has directed the minister of Finance to do the numbers and get back to him, so we can have some figures ready for negotiation with labour.
“Let me say that Mr. President is determined to go with what the committee has said. He is also looking at the welfare of Nigerians. Like I have said earlier, government is not an opponent of labour discussions; it is not an opponent of wage increase.
“But what is there is that government is always desirous of ensuring that there is a balance between what government pronouncement is and what realities are on ground and, therefore, will work assiduously to ensure that whatever we do, whatever promises government makes will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.
“The President has given a marching order to all those who negotiate on behalf of the government and all those also who are representatives of other sectors, the Organised Private Sector (OPS), the sub-nationals come together, so we can have a new wage award that is acceptable, sustainable and also realistic for Nigeria.
“A wage award is not just that of the federal government, like I mentioned earlier. The sub-nationals are involved, the OPS is involved, and organised labour is involved. It was a labour that stepped out during those proceedings.
“Now that we have come back to the negotiating table, all of us will work together again, seriously within the next one week, to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable and realistic for all Nigerians.”
Explaining why they suspended the strike, the NLC and TUC, said in a communiqué at the end of their joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, that NEC reviewed the government’s position on other critical demands, particularly the reversal of electricity tariff hike and the cessation of the discriminatory classification of electricity consumers into bands, as well as examined the circumstances behind organised Labour’s withdrawal from the Tripartite National Minimum Wage negotiation process within the context of the behaviour of the federal government towards the exercise and the content of the understanding reached with labour.
The communiqué added: “On the National Minimum Wage, the NEC-in-Session acknowledges the personal offer by President Tinubu to commit to a higher National Minimum Wage above the N60,000 on offer.
“On electricity tariff hike and classification: The NEC-in-Session is deeply disappointed by the government’s silence and lack of concrete action regarding reversal of electricity tariff hike and the abolition of the apartheid classification of electricity consumers into bands.
“The NEC reaffirms that these issues are critical to alleviating the financial burden on Nigerian workers and the general populace. The electricity tariff hike and discriminatory band classification remain unacceptable and must be addressed alongside the wage increase.
“On the reason for withdrawing from the wage setting process, the NEC-in-session frowned on the refusal of the Federal Government to go beyond N60,000 at the ongoing national minimum wage negotiation, which compelled our withdrawal.
“On the agreement with the Federal Government, the NEC-in-Session affirms that the Federal Government has agreed that the offer of N60,000 was not sufficient and has, therefore, shown commitment to making better wage offer to Nigerian workers and reaching agreement on same within one week.
“In view of the deliberations, the NEC-in-Session resolved that there is a greater need to create the right ambience for negotiation to continue unhindered.
“The indefinite nationwide strike is, therefore, relaxed for one week to allow the Federal Government commit to a concrete and acceptable national minimum wage, take definitive steps to reverse the electricity tariff hike back to N66/kwh and abolish the discriminatory classification of electricity consumers into Bands.
“The NLC and TUC national leadership are mandated to continue to maintain open channels of communication with the Federal Government to negotiate and secure favourable outcomes for Nigerian workers and people.
“All affiliate unions and state councils are, therefore, directed to relax the indefinite nationwide strike and return to their respective workplaces immediately.
“The NEC-in-Session expresses profound gratitude to Nigerian workers and the general public for their unwavering support and solidarity in this critical struggle for improved living and working conditions.
“The NLC and TUC remain committed to pursuing all necessary actions to protect the rights and welfare of all Nigerian people and workers as we urge all to await further directives while the negotiation continues.”
Meanwhile, there are indications that the Labour might consider N100,000 as a new minimum wage at the next negotiation meeting, rather than stick to its demand for N494,000.
A senior NLC official told a national daily that the unions would insist on N100,000 minimum wage, adding: “Today’s (Tuesday) meeting was essentially to set an agenda and plan how to complete the assignment within the five days.
“The government representatives did not mention a raise in the N60, 000. They just set the agenda on what to do and how to go about the negotiation. There was no mention of any increment. But labour planned to close the negotiation on N100,000 minimum wage.’’
Deputy Head of NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said: “We met today (Tuesday) to draw up an agenda for the one-week daily meeting. We met today and drew the agenda, because the agreement was that we meet daily for the meet one week and on our own, we said we are relaxing the strike, not even suspending it.
“It’s more like putting everybody on red alert. It means we are not going to give any notice. Which means by this time next week, we are going on strike. There is a difference between relax and suspend. Relax is to stay on your duty post and put your hands on the trigger. We are expecting government to submit another proposal.”
TUC President, Festus Osifo, stated on a television programme on Tuesday, June 4, when asked if Labour would accept a little additions to the current government offer: “No, we also told them that it’s not that we’d get to the table and you start adding N1, N2, N3,000, as you were doing, and we got some good guarantees here and there that they would do something good.”
He stressed that Labour was not insistent on N494,000 as the monthly minimum wage for workers in the country, but that the tripartite committee must show seriousness and offer workers something economically realistic and in tandem with current economic realities.
