Labour Demands ₦497,000 Wage, Rejects Government’s ₦57,000 Latest Offer

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), making up the Organised Labour, have once more turned down the Federal Government’s latest offer of a minimum salary of ₦57,000.

The Organized Labour rejected the government’s latest offer—the third one in about a week during negotiations on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the NLC and the TUC lost ground, going from ₦615,000 to ₦497,000.

A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers told Channels Television labour correspondent that the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector side of the talks proposed a ₦57,000 monthly minimum wage as against the ₦54,000 they proposed on Tuesday when the committee resumed negotiations.

The source claims that the Organized Labor also had grounds to withdraw their demand for a minimum salary of ₦497,000, as opposed to the original ₦615,000.

Last Monday, Organized Labor withdrew from the negotiations, citing a lack of readiness on the part of the public and private sectors to reach a new minimum wage agreement.

The government’s fresh proposal of a minimum salary of ₦54,000 was also rejected by the NLC and the TUC during the restart of discussions on Tuesday.

Only around ten days remain until the labor unions’ May 31 deadline for the government to wrap up the negotiations—and the committee still hasn’t come to a decision on a new minimum wage. [CONTINUE READING HERE]