Govt, Labour Resume New Minimum Wage Negotiation
Talks between the Federal Government and organised Labour on a new minimum wage will resume tomorrow, three days after a third attempt by them to reach an agreement failed.
Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) President Joe Ajaero made this known yesterday.
Also yesterday, the Federal Government enjoined Labour to be considerate and patriotic in its demand.
Ajaero said the union received a letter of invitation from the Chairman of the Tripartite Committee Gobi Aji which it would honour. The letter was signed by the committee’s Secretary, Ekpo Nta.
The NLC leader said: “We will attend(the meeting) but you know our ultimatum expires on Friday(tomorrow). If they present a better offer on that day we will accept it. But we will not attend the meeting for the sake of talks. We will not go into a monologue.”
Negotiators on the new wage failed to reach an agreement on Tuesday despite the government raising its offer to N60,000.
Labour officials, who lowered them demand to N494,000, walked out of the meeting, claiming they wanted to make consultation. But they failed to return to the venue.
Labour leaders thereafter told reporters that they rejected N60,000 offer.
The Federal Government restated its commitment to ensuring that workers were paid a living wage.
But it urged Labour to recognise that the nation’s economy was still on the path of recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other economic shocks.
