Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have called on President Bola Tinubu to consult them before submitting any figure as a new minimum wage to the National Assembly. The two labour centres said this would help maintain industrial harmony in the country.
They added that they would demand the payment of new minimum wage arrears no matter how long it took the President to sign it. NLC President Joe Ajaero and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo said this on the sideline of the ongoing International Labour Conference in Switzerland yesterday. Ajaero said: “We do not expect the President to present a final figure to the National Assembly without consulting with organized labour, employers, and state governors. Everyone will still come together for discussion before the transmission to the National Assembly.”
When asked by reporters about the exact figure contained in the report submitted to the President, the NLC said: “We have not seen the content of what has been submitted to the President. We will insist on seeing the content and appending our signatures to every page.
We will not append our signatures to any page we are not comfortable with. As representatives here, we cannot specify the exact amount until we consult, review the offers, and determine what is fair for Nigerian workers.” Osifo added that even after transmission to the National Assembly, labour would continue to lobby and push for a favourable figure for workers. Osifo explained the reason minimum wage arrears would be demanded was because of growing inflation daily which he said has impacted negatively on workers.
