THE organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) has ‘relaxed’ the nationwide strike for one week.
The TUC President, Festus Osifo, confirmed this in Abuja on Tuesday, June 4, following a joint extraordinary national executive council meeting of the unions, noting that a communique would soon be issued.
“A joint NEC meeting of TUC/NLC has approved to relax the industrial action for one week with immediate effect,” Osifo told Channels Television.
This latest development was at the heel of the resolution reached between the federal government representatives and the labour after a six-hour meeting on Monday evening, June 3, in Abuja.
The agreement was reached during a meeting convened by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume.
The resolution was co-signed by the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, his counterpart at the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, and the Minister of Labour, Nkiruka Onyejeocha.
While no specific amount was agreed upon as the new minimum wage, the parties resolved that the federal government commit to a figure higher than the current N60,000 offered.
The parties also agreed on the tripartite committee meeting every day for the next week to arrive at an agreeable national minimum wage.
“After exhaustive deliberation and engagement by both parties, the following resolutions were reached: the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria is committed to a national minimum wage that is higher than N60,000;
“Arising from the above, the tripartite committee is to meet every day for the next one week with a view to arriving at an agreeable national minimum wage;
“Labour in deference to the high esteem of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria’s commitment in (ii) above undertakes to convene a meeting of its organs immediately to consider this commitment.
The ICIR reported the just-suspended strike grounded many businesses, with workers shutting down agencies and departments of government across the country.
Schools, airports, train and power stations were among the institutions affected by the strike.
The workers embarked on the strike after the government failed to agree on the new minimum wage and the reversal of the electricity tariff hike demanded by the workers.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M