Minimum wage: Labour to drop N250k demand? Fresh update emerges

• Organised labour has insisted that there is no going back on its demand for N250,000 minimum wage for workers in the country
• Festus Osifo, the TUC president, made this known at an event in Abuja on Tuesday, July 9, while giving an update on the new minimum wage negotiation
• According to the TUC president, the new minimum wage was never abandoned; they were giving the president the room to explore consultations as he demanded

FCT, Abuja - The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is still advocating a minimum wage of N250,000 for Nigerian workers.

TUC President Festus Osifo said this while speaking at an event in Abuja on Tuesday, July 9. The event is the annual convention of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Women Commission.

Labour never drop minimum wage negotiation - TUC President Photo Credit: @kc_journalist, @officialABAT
Source: Twitter

Minimum Wage: NLC, TUC engaging FG

According to The Punch, Osifo revealed that Organised Labour, that is, TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), were negotiating with the federal government to reach a reasonable conclusion on the new minimum wage.

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the new minimum wage discussion was suspended pending President Bola Tinubu's engagement with stakeholders before making a final submission to the National Assembly.

Recall that the federal government and Organised Private Sector (OPS) have pegged the new minimum wage at N62,000. However, the labour has rejected the proposal and insisted on N250,000.

We never abandon minimum wage negotiation - TUC

Osifo assured that negotiations on the new minimum wage have not been abandoned, but rather, labour and the government are fine-tuning the matter.

According to him, the President wants further consultations before submitting the bill to the National Assembly, and labour is engaging in reach-out and conversations with various stakeholders.

His statement reads in part:

"What will be submitted to the National Assembly will actually be a minimum wage that will cater for the poorest of the poor... We still insist on the N250,000 benchmark as the ideal minimum wage.”

Minimum Wage: What governors can pay

Legit.ng earlier reported that the minimum wage drama between the governors and organized labour concerning the N60,000 proposed by the federal government has continued to elicit reactions.

Weighing into the issue, Okanlawon Gaffar, a lawyer, told Legit.ng that a uniform minimum wage is unhealthy for state governments.

The legal practitioner said each state should be able to determine its minimum wage based on its capacity and internal revenue.

Source: Legit.ng