The leadership of the organised labour comprising Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had two weeks ago walked out on the government representatives for offering Nigerian workers what they described as “paltry N48,000”.
The leaderships of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have threatened to paralyse the economy of the country if the Nigerian government refused to offer workers a living wage as demanded during the May Day celebration.
The organised labour gave the stern warning to the government shortly after talks on the minimum wage among members of the tripartite committee collapsed – the development that made the meeting to be adjourned “sine die” (indefinitely).
The leadership of the organised labour comprising Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had two weeks ago walked out on the government representatives for offering Nigerian workers what they described as “paltry N48,000”.
A few days after the meeting was deadlocked, the representatives of the government jacked up the minimum wage to the sum of N54,000 – the amount members of the two labour centres frowned at.
At the resumed meeting on Tuesday, it was gathered that representatives of the government rounded up the earlier N54,000 to N60,000 as new minimum wage – the offer that could not still halt the meeting from being deadlocked.
Speaking to Daily Trust after Tuesday’s meeting, some leaders of both NLC and TUC, lampooned the federal government over what they described as “lackadaisical attitude towards the welfare of workers”.
One of the labour leaders confirmed that the meeting was postponed indefinitely because “There was no serious commitment on the part of the government.
“We were just beating about the bush at that meeting. There was no concrete resolution, moving on the same spot won’t do any of us any good. They said we should bring down our demands, we brought it down.
“From N615,000, we brought it down to N497,000. Is that not reasonable enough? Was that not substantial enough? When it got to the government’s side, they were just perambulating, they couldn’t offer any substantial amount.
“Don’t forget we have our clear analysis on how we arrived at our demands considering present economic realities. We didn’t just give an amount, it was after thorough findings we presented our demand but here we are again! No conclusion,” the labour leader said.
When asked when the next meeting would be held, he said “I don’t know. For now, no date. It was adjourned ‘sine die’, I think that means indefinitely. So, when they (government officials) are ready, we will meet again.”