The negotiation
committee set up by the Federal Government to negotiate the
consequential adjustment arising from the N30,000 new minimum wage has
rejected what the government is offering.
The committee, which was inaugurated on May 14, has also failed to meet the four-week deadline to submit its report.
However,
members met twice last week with the enlarged membership collapsed
into one technical committee of six members each from both sides.
The
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, who was
appointed as chairman of the panel, stepped down for the chairman of
the National Wages, Salaries and Income Commission to head the
technical committee.
A principal officer of a labour union, who
spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said government’s
position on the consequential adjustment had been rejected by labour
representatives in the committee.
He said labour decided to be
careful in reaching an agreement based on what happened when minimum
wage was last increased and also to avoid being blackmailed by the FG.
He
said, “We are monitoring the negotiations between our representatives
and government. There is likely to be some challenges which is normal.
The government negotiating team is looking at what the government can
pay conveniently, but labour is also looking at what will be good for
workers to avoid a situation where workers found themselves when the
minimum wage was last increased.
“What happened then was that
government came up with a block figure and out of poor negotiations
because of insufficient time, a paltry sum was spread on workers’
salaries, translating into about N900 increase monthly.”
The source said the Nigeria Labour Congress was not involved in the ongoing negotiations.