Our reporter/ Organised Labour on Friday after several hours of meeting with the tripartite committee rejected federal government’s offer of N62,000 minimum wage offer.
The labour unions, however, proposed N250,000 which is a shift from its earlier N494,000.
Friday’s meeting brought to an end the deliberations on the new minimum wage by the tripartite committee set up by the the Federal Government after several months.
The recommendations will be forwarded to President Tinubu, who is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly for legislative action.
Though both labour, the organised private sector and the Federal Government had agreed that the current minimum wage of N30,000 is no longer sustainable with the present economic reality of the country, agreeing a figure for the new minimum wage had for long proved difficult.
While the government and the organised private sector viewed labour’s proposed N494,000 as over the roof, labour felt the offer of N60,000 was not considerate.
At the expiration of an ultimatum issued by labour on May 31, the unions embarked on strike on June 3, shutting down businesses across the nation.
The action was however suspended on Tuesday after the Federal Government promised to increase the minimum wage to an amount bigger than N60,000 as they resumed negotiations.
The suspension of the strike gave room for the resumption of negotiations which continued until Friday night.
With the government and the organised private sector just adding N2,000 to the earlier N60,000 rejected by labour, it is left to be seen if the new proposal will be accepted after the workers earlier vowed not to accept any lean addition by the government.
Meanwhile, the 36 state governors have said that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal by the federal government is not sustainable and cannot fly.
A statement by the Acting Director, Media Affairs and Public Relations of the Forum, Mrs Halima Ahmed, noted that if allowed to fly, many states will use all their monthly allocations from the federation account to pay workers’ salaries.
The governors appealed to members of the tripartite committee to agree on a minimum wage that would be fair and sustainable.
With Channels Television report
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