Labour shifts to ₦497,000, rejects FG’s fresh ₦57,000 wage proposal

The Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NlC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has again rejected a new offer of ₦57,000 minimum wage by the Federal Government.

The Organised Labour rejected the government’s fresh offer, the third proposal in about a week when negotiation talks resumed on Wednesday.

Both the NLC and the TUC, however, shifted ground from their initial ₦615,000 to ₦497,000.

A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers told newsmen that the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector side of the negotiation proposed a ₦57,000 monthly minimum wage as against the ₦54,000 they proposed on Tuesday when the committee resumed negotiations. The government had initially proposed ₦48,000 last week, which was also rejected by the Organised Labour.

According to the source, the Organised Labour also saw reasons to drop their demand from the initial ₦615,000 minimum wage to ₦497,000.

The Organised Labour had pulled out of the negotiation last week, accusing the government and private sector of showing unwillingness to agree on a new minimum wage.

At the resumption of the negotiations on Tuesday, the NLC and the TUC also rejected the new proposal of ₦54,000 minimum wage by the government.

The committee is yet to agree on a new minimum wage about just about 10 days to the May 31 deadline the labour unions gave to the government to conclude the negotiations.