Minimum wage talks: Labour considers N100,000 as Tinubu issues ultimatum
As the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage starts holding daily meetings for five days in an attempt to come to an agreement, Organised Labour may accept a minimum wage of N100,000.
According to a number of labour movement sources, the union leaders were prepared to reconsider their demand, which they had previously raised from N494,000 to N100,000. This was in response to the backlash and controversy surrounding their proposal, which was viewed as absurd and unfeasible.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, stated in a statement released on Saturday by his media assistant, Rabiu Ibrahim, that the proposed minimum wage would require an annual expenditure of N9.5 trillion, which he deemed intolerable for the country's finances.
Despite the intervention of the leadership of the National Assembly, labour embarked on an indefinite strike on Monday, a development that grounded economic activities nationwide.
Banks, airports, public schools and courts were shut, forcing the Federal Government to convene an emergency meeting to find a way out of the impasse.
In a bid to move the negotiation forward, the unions on Tuesday announced the suspension of the industrial action for five days after President Bola Tinubu agreed to pay a national minimum wage higher than N60,000 and the tripartite committee pledged its readiness to convene daily until a new minimum wage is announced.
To show his commitment to the negotiation, the President on Tuesday directed the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to present the cost implications for a new minimum wage within two days.
Tinubu gave the order at a meeting with the government negotiation team led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Speaking with our correspondence in confidence because Labour had not formally presented its final offer to the tripartite committee, a senior NLC official confirmed that the unions would insist on N100,000 minimum wage.
Agenda setting
He stated, “Today’s (Tuesday) meeting was essentially to set an agenda and plan how to complete the assignment within the five days.
“The government representatives did not mention a raise in the N60, 000. They just set the agenda on what to do and how to go about the negotiation. There was no mention of any increment. But labour planned to close the negotiation on N100,000 minimum wage.’’
The Deputy Head of NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, also confirmed that the Tuesday tripartite meeting on minimum wage was to draw an agenda for the daily meetings.
“We met today (Tuesday) to draw up an agenda for the one-week daily meeting. We met today and drew the agenda because the agreement was that we meet daily for the meet one week and on our own, we said we are relaxing the strike not even suspending it.
“It’s more like putting everybody on red alert. It means we are not going to give any notice. Which means by this time next week, we are going on strike. There is a difference between relax and suspend. Relax is to stay on your duty post and put your hands on the trigger. It is tomorrow (today) that we are expecting the government to submit another proposal,’’ he explained.
The organised labour vowed to reject any little addition to the N60,000 offer by the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage.
The President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, made this known on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
TUC cautions
The TUC leader responded, "No, we also told them that it's not that we'd get to the table and you start adding N1, N2, N3,000 as you were doing and we got some good guarantees here and there that they would do something good," when asked if labour would accept a few thousand naira additions to the offer.
Osifo went on to say that labour was not focused on N494,000 being the nation's new minimum wage; rather, the tripartite committee needed to demonstrate its seriousness and provide workers with an economically feasible wage in light of the pressures of inflation that are currently plaguing the country.
However, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, revealed to journalists the presidential directive given to the Finance Minister, saying Tinubu instructed Edun to provide the financial implications of the new minimum wage in 48 hours.
He noted, “The President has just summoned a meeting of all those who negotiated on behalf of the Federal Government led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The minister of finance was there, the minister of budget planning, the minister of information, the minister of budget and national planning, the minister of labour, and the NNPCL GMD.
“We were all there to look at all issues and the President has directed the minister of finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today and tomorrow so that we can have figures ready for negotiation with labour.”
Presidential directive
Idris assured of the President’s readiness to accept the committee’s resolutions, adding that “The President is determined to go with what the committee has said and he’s also looking at the welfare of Nigerians.
“The government is not against or opponent of labour discussions; the government is not an opponent of wage increase but what is there is that government is always there to ensure that there is a balance between what government pronouncement is and what the realities are on the ground.
“And therefore, we will work assiduously to ensure that whatever promises the government makes are promises that will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.”
Furthermore, he said President Tinubu had directed the government representatives to work collectively with the organised private sector and the sub-nationals to achieve a new affordable wage award for Nigerians.
Idris explained, “The President has given a marching order that all those who have negotiated on behalf of the Federal Government and all those who are representatives of organised private sectors, the sub-nationals to come together to have a new wage that is affordable, sustainable and that is also realistic for Nigerians.
“The wage is not just that of the Federal Government as I mentioned earlier, the sub-nationals are involved, the organised private sector is involved; it was labour that stepped out during that procedure. Now we have come back to the negotiation table.”
The minister assured that all hands would be on deck to present a new minimum wage for Nigerians in one week.
“All of us will work together assiduously within the next one week to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable and also realistic,” Idris said.
Meanwhile, Labour said it had “relaxed” its strike for one week to enable fruitful negotiations with the Federal Government on minimum wage.
Following a joint meeting of the National Executive Council on Tuesday, the NLC and TUC made this announcement in a press release.
The strike was put on hold after a six-hour meeting on Monday night in Abuja between the National Assembly and the leadership of organised labour.
President Bola Tinubu's commitment to increasing the N60,000 minimum wage was conveyed by the Federal Government.
"The Tripartite Committee will convene daily for the next week to finalise an agreeable National Minimum Wage," the agreement stated. "The President of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is committed to establishing a National Minimum Wage higher than N60,000."
Additionally, organised labour committed to "holding meetings of its organs immediately to examine this new offer, and no worker would face victimisation as a consequence of participating in the industrial action.”
The resolutions were signed on behalf of the Federal Government by the information, Idris, and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.
In its statement announcing the strike suspension, the unions said there was a greater need to create the right ambience for negotiation to continue unhindered.
“The indefinite nationwide strike action is, therefore, relaxed for one week from today (Tuesday) to allow the Federal Government to commit to a concrete and acceptable National Minimum Wage; take definitive steps to reverse the electricity tariff hike back to N66/kwh and abolish the discriminatory classification of electricity consumers into bands,” the unions said.
Labour also mandated its affiliate unions and state councils, to return to their respective workplaces immediately
On the issue of the electricity tariff, the unions said they were deeply disappointed by the government’s silence and lack of concrete action regarding the reversal of the electricity tariff hike and the abolition of the apartheid classification of electricity consumers into Bands.
“The NEC reaffirms that these issues are critical to alleviating the financial burden on Nigerian workers and the general populace. The electricity tariff hike and discriminatory Band classification remain unacceptable and must be addressed alongside the wage increase.”
In order to appease organised labour, opposition members of the House of Representatives demanded that the Federal Government enact a new minimum wag
