The Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria expressed dissatisfaction on Thursday regarding the stalled negotiations on a new minimum wage, urging the Federal Government to expedite the process.
The TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, who made the call while briefing journalists after the National Executive Council, NEC, of the labour movement, ruled out the possibility of having a new minimum wage in place before the end of May.
TUC, also lamented that some states in the Niger Delta region that collect huge sums of money from the Federation Account, have not paid neither the wage awards nor palliatives to their workers, accusing Delta, Imo, Benue as the worst culprits.
Besides, TUC, noted with dismay that the Federal Government has not paid federal workers the wage award for the months of March and April this year and called for the immediate payment of the wage award to cushion the economic hardship.
He said, “The NEC in session discussed the issues of minimum wage and that government has to do everything possible to ensure that this is fast tracked because the only way you can inflate your economy is when you empower the working class. The only way you can inflate your economy is when people have money to purchase goods in the supermarket, when people have money to go to the regular market to purchase items. If there is no money to purchase these items, if the purchasing power parity is relatively low, what is going to happen?
So, we demand that the committee orf minimum wage, should hasten their activities so that a new minimum wage will be put in place. This is the only way that the economy will be re inflated.”
Comrade Osifo also called on the review of obsolete labour laws in the country, noting that, ” for several years, we have been trying to review the labor law all attempt to get the ninth National Assembly to pass the new labor law did not materialized.”
Commenting on wage award, Osifo said, “Then also in the issue of wage award, the NEC in session also frowned on the fact that the last wage award that was paid to the federal workers was February 2024 and that of March and April that is just ending have not been paid.
“So we hereby call on government to immediately, release the payment of wage award for March 2024 and April 2024 and to ensure regular payments moving forward, so that at the end of April, when salary is coming in, the wage award is also paid until the new minimum wage is put in place as agreed in the communique of October 2 of 2023.”
