The meeting of the tripartite committee on minimum wage broke down again, without an agreement as the organised labour unions, again, rejected a fresh minimum wage proposal by the federal government. The federal government had upped its former offer by ₦3000; from ₦57,000 to ₦60,000 but that was quickly rejected by the labour leaders.
The organised labour, consisting of the Nigeria labour congress (NLC), the trade union congress (TUC) and others also shifted grounds, taking off ₦4,000 from its previous demand; from ₦497,000 stance last week to ₦494,000.
A member of the tripartite committee who represented the labour side said they might shift grounds if there are signs the government is ready to make what they can consider a serious offer, “This is simply a case of if they go higher, we will go lower. They need to propose something reasonable for us to propose something lower too. There is no two-way about it.
“Also, we have a way of meeting as members of the Labour before each committee meeting. This will help us to take a uniform stand by the time we get to the meeting front.
“So as long as the government is ready to present something reasonable, we will meet them in the middle,” the labour leader said.
Another source close to the negotiations said “We walked out again. Just now. They (federal government) added 3k. We reduced 3k.”
The government had initially proposed ₦48,000 and ₦54,000 last week, which were also rejected by the organised labour.
Tuesday’s meeting was, however, deadlocked as talks ended without an agreement on what to pay as a new minimum wage.
The committee is yet to agree on a new minimum wage, three days before the May 31 deadline the labour unions gave to the government to conclude the negotiations.
