Labour to reduce minimum wage demand

The Organised Labour is set to reduce their minimum wage demand from N494,000 to N100,000.

This is following the criticism and controversy that trailed their proposal which was considered outrageous and unrealistic.

Recall that the Federal Government said the proposed minimum wage would result in an annual expenditure of N9.5tn, a burden he described as untenable for the nation’s finances.

Speaking with The PUNCH 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.

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.