Yesterday, the Organized Labour in Nigeria walked out of the national minimum wage talks after the Federal Government proposed N48,000 per month.
It said the offer amounted to a salary reduction and nowhere near a living wage.
Labour insisted the sum does not even come close to the N77,000 that federal-level workers currently take home, which includes N30,000 as mandated by law, N12,000 peculiar allowance and N35,000 wage award.
The government’s position was presented to Labour at a virtual meeting of the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage.
In protest, the two labour centres – the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) – foisted a deadlock.
Vice President Kashim Shettima on January 30 inaugurated the 37-member tripartite committee on new minimum wage.
In a joint statement yesterday, President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero and Deputy President of the TUC, Tommy Okon, said the wage proposal by the government was “not just a mockery but an insult to workers dignity.”
