As the battle for new minimum wage rages on, industry experts and financial analysts have have warned that the nation’s economy is on a tough road to recovery. They, therefore, added that the minimum wage agitation and return of fuel subsidy will further complicate the process and prospect of early recovery.
The warning came on the heels of the controversy trailing the fixing of the new minimum wage. This is even as Organized Labour Weekend said President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly, NASS, will determine its next line of action.
It will be recalled that the tripartite Committee on NNMW had on Friday, June 8, ended negotiations without an agreement. This is as a result of the sharp division in offers between employers (Government and OPS) and organized labour ( Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC).
And contrary to expectations of the agitating labour, the Federal Government negotiating team added N2,000 to its earlier offer ofN60, 000.
Recall that organized labour had earlier rejected the offer made by Government. And this led to the deadlock that forced labour to declare a nationwide strike.
Consequent upon that, the Committee resolved to take both the N62,000 offer by the Federal Government team which has the backing of the OPS and the N250,000 now demanded by organized labour to President Bola Tinubu for further action.
In a report by VANGUARD, one of the members of Labour’s negotiating team said President Tinubu and the National Assembly will determine the next step organized labour would take.
The member said: “At this point, we are looking up to the President and the National Assembly to right the wrong done by the Government negotiators and their OPS counterpart. It was a high-level conspiracy among the Federal Government negotiators, the State Governors and the OPS.
“Members of OPS hid under the bogus name of Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, to claim they cannot pay reasonable wages.
“The OPS had willing tools in State Governors who, from the onset, did not attend most of the meetings. And they never wanted to improve the wages of their employees. But were clandestinely meeting with OPS to scuttle any chance of a reasonable wage.
“For the Federal Government side, members of the team, besides ensuring that Mr. President did not know the true situation of things, members did everything, including threats, to ensure we did not move forward.
“One senior government official singled out the NLC President for threats. He blamed him for what he termed organized labour’s tough stance. Even when the TUC President wanted to defend the NLC’s President, he was not allowed to speak.
“Well, we have done our best. Since it was Mr. President who set up the Committee in the first place, we have returned the responsibility of doing the right thing to him. Don’t forget Mr. President has always promised Nigerian workers a living wage. He now has all the opportunities to fulfil his promise to Nigerian workers.
“However, in case Mr. President fails to do the right thing, members of the National Assembly who are representatives of the people, should rightly take up the responsibility. They should make sure that Nigerian workers earn a living wage.
“We believe if the executive arm pretends not to be aware of the sufferings and pains Nigerian workers and masses are going through, we expect our representatives in the National Assembly to appreciate our pains.
“The issue will come to them (National Assembly members) as an executive bill. From there, they should take it up and make the nation’s workforce happier.
“What Mr. President and the National Assembly do will determine our next line of action. After that, we can hold our organs’ meetings to decide our responses. For now, we have to wait. That is all I can say.
Recall that after two days of waiting at Friday’s meeting, the Federal Government negotiating team raised its offer by N2,000. Thus. bringing its total minimum wage offer to N62,000. Also, the organized labour reduced its demand to N250,000 from N494,000.
It was also gathered that the Organized Private Sector, OPS, is backing the Government on theN62, 000 offer.
Following the disagreement the Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage, NNMW, has adjourned.
However, Nigerians are anxiously waiting for the next line of action on the minimum wage.
source: Vanguard
Follow us for more news on our WhatsApp News Channels @
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaC505jB4hdZ5Yx9g82U
