Akpevwe Okuse
The Organised Labour has vowed to reject any minor increase to the ₦60,000 offer to the new minimum wage.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, made this known during an interactive session on Channels Television’s today.
This comes hours after the Organized Labour, including the TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), suspended its industrial action, which started at 12:01 am on Monday.
He said, “At the meeting on Friday, the tripartite committee said they would not add anything more to the ₦60,000. However, in yesterday’s meeting (Monday), Mr. President was able to commit to doing more than ₦60,000.”
Before the strike, the tripartite committee – composed of the Federal Government, states, and the Organised Private Sector – made several offers to Labour. They initially offered ₦48,000, then increased it to ₦54,000, then ₦57,000, and finally to ₦60,000. However, all four offers were rejected by the TUC and NLC.
During discussions about whether the Labour Party would accept a small increase in the last offer from the tripartite committee, Osifo stated, “No, we also informed them that we cannot just sit at the table and have them add ₦1, ₦2, ₦3,000 as they were doing previously. However, we did receive some promising assurances that they would make substantial improvements.”
Osifo mentioned that Organised Labour is not fixed 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 line with current inflationary pressures.
Although the union leader declined to specify an amount, he insisted that the new minimum wage should have the same purchasing power as the value of ₦30,000 in 2019 and ₦18,000 in 2014.
Osifo criticized the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, for referring to the labor strike as “premature” and “illegal”.
The TUC leader argued that during this year’s Workers’ Day on May 1, 2024, the Organized Labor provided the government with a one-month notice, which ended on May 31, 2024.
The leader of the TUC stated that the slightly over 24-hour strike successfully achieved the labor’s objective by drawing attention to the workers’ demands across the country.
“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 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.
The Organized Labour had initially called off its nationwide strike which began at midnight on Monday after the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, stated that President Bola Tinubu was committed to implementing a national minimum wage above ₦60,000. The President also instructed the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to present a proposal for a new minimum wage by Wednesday.
