The Organised Labour has promised to reject any lean additions to the tripartite committee‘s ₦60,000 offer for the new minimum wage in Nigeria.
Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), revealed this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, hours after the Organised Labour, which includes the TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), called off its industrial action, which began at 12:01 a.m. on Monday.
“At the meeting on Friday, they (the tripartite committee) said they would not add anything more to the ₦60,000 but in the meeting of yesterday (Monday), Mr President was able to commit to doing what is more than ₦60,000,” Osifo said.
Before the strike, the tripartite committee which has the Federal Government, states and the Organised Private Sector as members, offered Labour ₦48,000, then ₦54,000 and then ₦57,000 and later ₦60,000, all four offers which were rejected by the TUC and NLC.
When asked whether Labour would accept a few thousand naira additions to the last offer of the tripartite committee, the TUC boss said, “No, we also told them that it’s not that we’d get to the table and you start adding ₦1, ₦2, ₦3,000 as you were doing and we got some good guarantees here and there that they would do something good.”
Osifo said the Organised Labour is not fixated on ₦494,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country but the tripartite committee must show seriousness and offer workers something economically realistic in tandem with current inflationary pressures.
Though the union leader refused to mention a specific amount, he said the new minimum wage must be equal in purchasing power to the value of ₦30,000 in 2019 and ₦18,000 in 2014.
Osifo faulted the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, for describing the industrial action by labour as “premature” and “illegal”. The TUC boss argued that during this year’s Workers’ Day on May 1, 2024, the Organised Labour gave the government a one-month notice which ended on May 31, 2024.
‘Strike Has Awoken Everybody’
The TUC leader said the little-above-24-hour strike has achieved labour’s aim as it has awoken everyone in the country to the demand of workers.
“When it comes to the issue of Labour, it should be taken much more seriously. The attention should be there.
“What has this strike achieved today? This strike has awoken everybody. I can tell you that between now and the next one week, the entire attention is going to be on the tripartite committee. That was actually what we were trying to achieve and we have achieved that,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Organised Labour relaxed its nationwide strike which started at midnight on Monday after the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume said President Bola Tinubu was committed to a national minimum wage above ₦60,000.
The President also directed the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to present a template for a new minimum wage by Wednesday.