NLC, TUC Dialogue On New Minimum Wage, Formal Demand To Be Made After 3 Months

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced that the dialogue between it and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for the review of the National Minimum Wage will take three months before a formal demand to government.

According to the President of the congress, Ayuba Wabba, during a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Thursday, the organised labour had advanced reasons for the review of the minimum wage, adding that the law stipulated that it should be reviewed after five years.

He said, “We are going to make a formal demand but that will also entail that we have to do formal consultation with our counterpart and agree on a figure and that is the major issue on the general principle; all of us are on the same page.

“But we need also to use empirical data to arrive at a figure, that when we present it people will not also look at us as people that are not very informed about the issues, so that process certainly will not take more than three months I suppose.

“And because first we need to agree on the figure and present it to our National Executive Council for note, then we now present formally to government as a formal demand.”

According to the Wabba, even when the law provides for minimum wage review, it is the duty of organised labour to make a formal demand.

He said that in response to NLC’s demand, government would constitute a tripartite committee comprising employers’ organisations (privately run business owners), state governments and the federal government.

“Government will form a committee where proper collective bargaining process will take place which will lead to the review of the minimum wage.

“All those processes will be effectively followed, am sure that not long those issues will be made publicly to the Nigeria workers,“ he said.

He said that the congress would try to harmonise the issue of figure with TUC, adding that they would not want to quote figures.