Organised Labour has said it will not accept anything less than N100,000 as minimum wage as the negotiations between its representatives and the Federal Government heighten.
Several impeccable sources from both the Trade Union Congress and Nigeria Labour Congress who spoke to newsmen stressed that the Federal Government and the organised private sector should not expect labour to accept anything less than a six-digit offer.
The unions said the government was not serious about the negotiations, adding that the shift from N48,000 to N57,000 was too meagre to be considered as ‘shifting grounds’.
They noted that the promise made by President Bola Tinubu when he became President and on Workers’ Day was that the Federal Government would pay a living wage, adding that N57,000 did not fall into that category.
The sources also noted that they were going to have a national executive council meeting on Monday in preparation for the meeting with the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage on Wednesday.
The meeting on the ongoing negotiations on the new minimum wage was adjourned till Wednesday after Organised Labour rejected the new N54,000 minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government.
The PUNCH had reported that the Federal Government upped its offer from its earlier proposed N48,000 to N54,000.
Tuesday’s meeting came as a result of the walkout staged by members of Organised Labour following the proposal of N48,000 as minimum wage by the Federal Government during last week’s meeting.
During that meeting, the OPS had also proposed N54,000 while labour insisted on its N615,000 living wage demand, which it later reduced to N497,000.
One of our correspondents who spoke to sources who attended the follow-up meeting on Tuesday learnt that the Federal Government upped its offer from N48,000 to N54,000.
“Well, during the meeting, the government increased its offer from N48,000 to N54,000. However, labour rejected that offer, and the meeting has been adjourned till Wednesday,” a source, who asked not to be named, said.
When asked whether the government’s side was showing any sign of seriousness, the labour leader said, “No seriousness at all. Even state governors did not show up. Those who represented them, like Bauchi and Niger states, did not have the mandate to speak on their behalf.
