Labour decries non-completion of minimum wage negotiations
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, on Thursday, frowned at the non-completion of negotiations on a new minimum wage urging the Federal Government to fast-track action on that.
The TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, who made the call while briefing journalists after the National Executive Council, of the labour movement, ruled out the possibility of having a new minimum wage in place before the end of May.
TUC also lamented that some states in the Niger Delta region that collect huge sums of money from the federation account have not paid either the wage awards or palliatives to their workers. He accused Delta, Imo, and Benue states as the worst culprits.
Besides, TUC noted with dismay that the Federal Government has not paid federal workers the wage award for March and April this year and called for the immediate payment of the wage award to cushion the economic hardship.
He said, “The NEC in session discussed the issues of minimum wage and that the government has to do everything possible to ensure that this is fast-tracked because the only way you can inflate your economy is when you empower the working class. The only way you can inflate your economy is when people have money to purchase goods in the supermarket and when people have money to go to the regular market to purchase items.
“If there is no money to purchase these items, if the purchasing power parity is relatively low, what is going to happen? So, we demand that the committee for minimum wage hasten their activities so that a new minimum wage will be put in place. This is the only way that the economy will be re-inflated.”
Comrade Osifo also called on the review of the obsolete labor laws in the country, noting that, ”for several years, we have been trying to review the labor law. All attempts to get the ninth National Assembly to pass the new labor law did not materialize”
Commenting on wage awards, Osifo said, “Then also in the issue of wage award, the NEC in session frowned on the fact that the last wage award that was paid to the federal workers was February 2024 and that of March and April that is just ending has not been paid.Related News
“So we hereby call on the government to immediately, release the payment of wage award for March 2024 and April 2024 and to ensure regular payments moving forward, so that at the end of April, when salary is coming in, the wage award is also paid until the new minimum wage is put in place as agreed in the communique of October 2 of 2023.”
Lamenting on the lukewarm attitude of some state governors in the payment of wage awards and distributing palliatives to the workers, TUC said, “There is no gain in saying the fact that today we are facing economic hardship and based on this at the federal level. We engaged the federal government as you are aware, from last year which culminated in the signing of the communique on October 2, 2023.
“And after that communique was signed, we also empowered our respective state councils to follow up with their state government to ensure two things, one, put in place palliative. Palliative is for the immediate. It is not a permanent solution to the economic downturn that we are facing today as a country but palliative could solve immediate challenges.
“So that is why we were also yearning for a sustainable and robust solution. A solution that would meet the yearnings of the Nigerian workers and indeed the Nigerian masses, because that is why the governments are elected from the federal to the local government level.
“We collated reports across the various states in the country. And in that report, we could see that some states have been doing well, in terms of payment of wage awards and in terms of putting palliatives in place. And in terms of putting in place a more robust and substantive solution to solving the issues that we have today as a country.”
The TUC leadership also carpeted the Federal Government over its unilateral decision to increase electricity tariffs without consultation with stakeholders.
According to Osifo, such decisions are not implemented in advanced climes. He said it is even more worrisome that most Nigerians are not metered, calling on the government to rescind implementation in the interest of the masses.
- The punch
