Staggering minimum wage implementation will be catastrophic, NLC, TUC warn

NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba

To avert ‘a major industrial crisis,’ the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have called on the Federal Government to do all within its power to immediately reconvene the meeting of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council and the Technical Committee on the Negotiation of Relativity/ Consequential Adjustment of Salaries Arising from the National Minimum Wage of N30,000.

In a joint letter written to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, the two Labour centres urged the government to do all that is necessary to ensure that the meeting of the committee is reconvened with the inclusion of the NLC and TUC.

The Organised Labour, therefore, warned that the notion of staggered implementation, being employed by the government is both divisive and catastrophic.

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Besides, the letter signed by Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the president of NLC and Comrade Quadri Olaleye, the President of TUC said what the government is offering is far too small to be acceptable. Titled: “Re: Issue of Negotiation of Relativity/ Consequential Adjustment of Salaries Arising from the National Minimum Wage of N30,000,” the letter expressed concerns and dismay over the stalemated discussion between the Council and the Government on the relativity/ consequential adjustment of salaries arising from the national minimum wage of N30,000 per month.

The letter read: “We would wish to commence this letter by first commending Mr President for setting up this committee in which we all had the confidence to expeditiously work out the modalities for relativity and any other consequential effect that may arise from the new national minimum wage. Our optimism was hinged on the fact that this would not be the first time we would be having this type of committee.

“We are however worried by this stalemate, and must, in all honesty, point out that what the government is offering is far too small to be acceptable.  We recall that in the immediate past exercise, 53 per cent relativity was used across the board. The resort therefore to unnecessary obduracy by the government’s team is neither helpful nor reflective of precedence.

“The option of a staggered implementation conveyed in a press statement by the Chairman of the Salaries and Wages Commission is similarly not in good faith, for the notion of staggered implementation is both divisive and catastrophic. It is important to note that the national minimum wage has always been implemented holistically in acknowledgement of the fact that we all go to the same market.

“In light of this and the need to head off a major  industrial crisis, we would urge you to do all that is necessary to ensure that the  meeting of the Committee is reconvened with  NLC and TUC.”