From Victor Osula, Abuja
The virtual meeting between the Federal Government and representatives of organised labour ended in deadlock as union members rejected the N48,000 proposed by the government as minimum wage for public service workers.
The government’s position was presented to labour at Wednesday’s resumed tripartite committee meeting.
In protest, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), walked out of the meeting, which was held virtually.
The NLC and TUC had proposed N615,000 as minimum wage. During Wednesday’s meeting, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), which had earlier declared that the least worker in the private sector was paid N78,000, presented N54,000 as the new minimum wage.
President Bola Tinubu, through Vice President Kashim Shettima, on January 30, inaugurated the 37-member tripartite committee to come up with a new minimum wage.
With its membership cutting across federal and state governments, the private sector and organised labour, the panel is to recommend a new national minimum wage for the country.
Tinubu had on May Day, promised workers a living wage, assuring them that their days of waiting for a living wage were over.
A labour leader, who was part of Wednesday’s meeting, said the federal government was not serious about giving workers a living wage.
“What the government has presented to us is wage reduction. The labour leader said that this government is not serious about giving workers a living wage.”
