In its bid to avert imminent strike over the national minimum wage adjustment stalled talks, the federal government met with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday in Abuja. At the meeting attended by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige and NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba the FG pleaded with labour to show understanding on the issue.
The Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) had threatened to embark on strike following the breakdown in negotiation on the consequential adjustment on the N30,000 National Minimum Wage.
Dr Chris Ngige reiterated that the FG was not ignorant of the plight of workers but was being cautious not to go beyond its financial capacity. He said: “The government is not averse to doing the needful. What we are saying is that we should try for all the parties to agree that the economy has some issues and therefore we have to cut our coat according to our size. That is the important thing.”
The Minister pointed out that progress has been made in the minimum wage implementation process, citing the fact that workers between levels 1 to 6 have started benefiting from it.
He said: “I do not want to say they didn’t make progress, they made progress. At least from levels 1 to 6, they got something. By the time we were coming back, we saw that they were making progress. Unfortunately, the head of service, who was the chair of that committee had to go on compulsory leave, and it is not easy when some other person is on acting capacity. Before I came to this meeting, I had to reach the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), because the logical thing for us to do which government has agreed is to reconstitute our representation. They handed over to us from where ever they stopped.
“Luckily, the president has also put in place a new council called Presidential Committee on Salaries and Allowances. The former Head of Service reported to us on where they have progressed to,” The Minister also said he wasTop of Form
optimistic that negotiation would resume soon and the consequential adjustment would be quickly resolved.
“When we come back, we will involve the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the NLC, so that we can have a speedy movement. It is unfortunate that the negotiation is deadlocked on others on levels 7-17,” adding that the Government was concerned on the unpaid wages that may accrue from the delay in implementation of the new adjustment in the new wage.
Wabba had hinted that both the NLC, TUC had received a report from the JNPSNC informing them that negotiation had broken down and that the NLC would meet with the JNPSNC to agree on the way forward as workers were concerned over the continuous delay in reaching an agreement on the consequential adjustment on the national minimum wage
NLC President, Wabba said: “Two days ago, the NLC and TUC received a formal report from the JNPSNC informing us that negotiation has broken down and that they want our intervention. And part of the intervention we can make is to use the opportunity of this meeting to try to see how this issue can be sorted out.”
 ..){kind=link}
