The meeting between the Nigerian government and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) is scheduled to resume on Tuesday, June 6th.
After the meeting on Sunday evening, Dele Alake, a Director in the former Tinubu-Shetimma Campaign Organization, addressed State House Correspondents and expressed satisfaction with the discussions. He mentioned that significant progress had been made.
The Trade Union Congress presented a list of demands during the meeting, with the primary focus being an increase in the minimum wage for workers to mitigate the impact of the subsidy removal on petrol.
Alake stated, “We said we were going to reconvene to keep the engagement on to defuse the tension in the land as a result of the withdrawal of subsidy, which is a reality.
”Now we are very happy to announce to Nigerians that this engagement has been very productive and the Trade Union Congress that attended today’s meeting presented a list of demands, which we have studied and we are going to present to the President for his consideration. But we can announce to Nigerians that a lot of the items on the TUC list are not impracticable.”
Alake mentioned that the government’s representatives requested the TUC to allow them enough time for extensive consultation. They plan to reconvene on Tuesday to assess the feasibility of implementing the demands.
When asked about the absence of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the meeting, Alake stated that the government is also making efforts to reach out to them.
Festus Osifo, the President of the Trade Union Congress, who led the union’s delegation, confirmed that they had presented their demands during the meeting. The primary demand was an upward review of the minimum wage to align with the current economic situation.
We were here on Wednesday last week and after that meeting, the government gave us its position; telling us why they did what they did. So, on our part, we did not agree with them so they presented some things they considered as palliatives but we told them we were going back to discuss with our respective organs.
“So, we summoned the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria on Friday and at that meeting, the NEC mandated us with a list of demands to present to the government, which we did today.
“Part of those demands is to increase the minimum wage and they have also told us that they need to present these demands to the President so that we will reconvene on Tuesday. Topmost of our demands is that for utmost good fate and in the interest of social dialogue, they should revert the pump price while discussions continue,” he said.
Osifo expressed hope that the demands presented by the TUC would be reviewed in the best interest of Nigerian workers.
Regarding the absence of the NLC, he explained that the TUC’s NEC was able to conclude its meeting and prepare its list of demands within a short timeframe.
