THE leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says it would not accept the N22, 500 minimum wage proposed by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
The governors’ forum had late Tuesday announced that states can only afford to raise the national minimum wage from N18, 000 to N22, 500 as against the N30, 000 being demanded by organised labour.
But the President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba while addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said the Congress condemned “unequivocally the communique issued by the Nigeria Governors Forum on October 30, 2018″, describing it as an “attempt to undermine the authority of Mr. President.”
“This position should be equally condemned by all.”
This is coming after the Federal Government also said it was not in support of the N22,500 minimum wage proposed by the Nigeria Governors Forum.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, made the stance of the Federal Government known on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“The governors have not even done enough. I told them that this N22, 500 was even rejected by the Federal Government,” he said.
Wabba at the press conference urged members of the Congress “to continue to mobilize in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on the 6th of November if by then necessary steps have not been taken to adopt the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee.
“We wish to reiterate our position adopted at our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of 23rd October 2018 that any figure below N30,000 will not be accepted by us,” the NLC president said.
He said that the Congress ‘ demand is that the constitutional, legal and morally right step to take is for the Chairman of the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiating Committee to submit the report of the already concluded National Minimum Wage negotiations to President Muhammadu Buhari for transmission to the National Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
While noting that the Nigeria Governors Forum is not a negotiating body but merely a political organization for the convenience of state governors, Wabba said only 21 state governors sent in their memorandum quoting figures when the tripartite committee from inception sent letters to each state government to send in their memoranda as their contributions to the new national minimum wage negotiating process.
He added that the demand of organized labour was not N30,000 but N66,500.
“Our demand is N66,500. N30,000 is the compromise figure arrived at the end of negotiations by the tripartite partners – Government, Employers and Organized Labour. The new minimum wage was a product of intense negotiations that lasted for almost one year,” he said.
The Governors, he further explained had six representatives on the Tripartite Committee – one state governor represented each of the geopolitical zones.
“The representatives of the state governors were part and parcel of the work of the negotiating committee from beginning to the end. It is important to note that the National Minimum Wage is not an allocation to workers. It is a product of negotiation by the tripartite partners,” Wabba explained.
The unilateral pronouncement by governors of N22,500 Minimum Wage is an abuse of every known principle of industrial relations, labour laws, processes and international best practices.”