Labour reduces minimum wage demand from N250,000

The Organised Labour has reduced its minimum wage demand from N250,000 to N100,000.

The Deputy President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Dr Tommy Okon, disclosed this on Tuesday, at the ongoing 112th International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to Guardian, while the Labour is not attaching a timeline within which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must submit a new national minimum wage to the National Assembly for promulgation into the law, it does not expect any figure that is less than six figures.

By this, labour is expecting a figure that is from N100,000 and above as the new minimum wage floor.

Okon explained that with the removal of subsidies on petrol and floating of the naira that have pushed food inflation to an all-time high of 40 per cent and inflation to more than 25 years height of 33.69 per cent in April 2024, President Tinubu knows that any amount that is less than a six-figure would be a starvation wage.

His words: “I want to believe that Mr. President will be very conscious of the fact that there is high cost of living caused by the removal of petrol subsidies and liberalisation of the FX market. These decisions were taken by his government which have exacerbated the hardships Nigerians are going through today.”

When asked how much will likely meet the expectations of labour, Dr Okon said: “Because of the high cost of living, we are looking at six figures.”