Minimum Wage: Labour Shuns FG Parley Over Abysmal N48,000 Proposal

A meeting of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, NMW, was on Thursday shunned by the organised labour over what it described as government’s insulting proposal of N48,000.

Osun Defender gathered that after the organised labour negotiating team walked out of the meeting on Wednesday, having rejected the government’s new minimum wage proposals of N48,000, the Federal Government sent another invitation letter to them.

The invitation letter, sent by the Secretary/ member of the Tripartite Committee, Ekpo Nta, was not honoured.

In a letter signed by the Director Compensation, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC, Chiadi Adighiogu, on behalf of Mr Nta, read: “I am directed to inform you that the members of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage after day-long deliberations at its 4th meeting today Wednesday 15/05/24 (yesterday), adjourned the meeting to resume tomorrow Thursday, 16/05/24 at 11 am at the same venue.”

However, the organized labour negotiating team did not attend the meeting and vowed not to return to the negotiation table until the government put its house in other, show seriousness and transparency in the negotiation.

A member of labour’s negotiating team and deputy president of TUC, Dr Tommy Okon, said: “There was no way we could have attended the meeting today (yesterday) after we walked out yesterday (Wednesday).

”No, you do not expect us to be back at the meeting. We are not pushovers. We expect government to put its house in order and present something meaningful. Until the government shows its seriousness and the transparency to negotiate, do not expect us there. We will stay out.”

Meanwhile, the government has pleaded with organised labour to return to the negotiation table, promising to shift ground.

Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on NNMW and a representative of the federal government, Bukar Aji, in a letter to the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, dated May 16, 2024, announced Tuesday, May 21, as a new date for the resumption of negotiations.

The letter read: “You will recall that, organised labour representatives walked out of the Tripartite Committee meeting of yesterday (Wednesday), May 15, 2024, after the presentation of position paper by the government side.

“However, as earlier discussed, we need to all sit back on the negotiation table to analyse the tripartite position and shift grounds by all sides to enable us conclude the assignment before you travel to the International Labour Organisation, ILO, Conference holding in Geneva, Switzerland, this is to give assurance to our teeming workforce that the Tripartite Committee would do all that is possible to reduce the waiting time in concluding this assignment.”