Nation wide strike looms as govt , labour go for broke over minimum wage, salary adjustment issue

– Steve Ovirih

The intention of the Federal Government to increase workers minimum wage from eighteen thousand naira to thirty thousand naira per month does not seem to be heading in the right direction as negotiation between labour and government have lately ended in deadlocks and disputation between Government representatives and labour negotiators.

While it took series of meetings between both bodies to settle for the thirty thousand benchmark, the imbroglio now settles on the percentage of salary adjustment for workers who may not be entitled to the new thirty thousand naira because of their higher level and grade in the civil service.

While President Muhammadu Buhari had signed the minimum wage bill into law in April, federal government did not start payment for Federal workers until August 2019.

The issue at stake is the percentage increase for workers on level 7 to 17; while Federal Government is placing an offer of 11 percent for workers on level 7 to 14, and 6.5 percent for workers on level 15 to 17 Labour is demanding 24 and 29 percent respectively. Worst still, The Governors are pegging salary adjustment to a measly nine percent.

In the light of this continued Government/ Labour disagreement over the vexed issue of salary adjustment, Nigeria Labour Congress and its sister union, Trade union Congress have given Government till 16th October midnight to resolve all the grey areas or risk throwing the country into a no holds barred industrial action that will have a negative impact on the nation’s economy. Trade union Congress Chairman, Comrade Olaleye warned that when Labour go on strike this time round, it will not be a warning strike but a total showdown and lockdown on all sector of the nation’s economy.

However, a meeting between Government and Labour representatives will hold tomorrow, Tuesday, the 8th of October which will be the last negotiation that may salvage the heightened tension or fast track the industrial action. The meeting on Tuesday will focus mainly on how to resolve the logjam surrounding the heated debate on the consequential salary adjustment. The Senior Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige confirmed that the meeting will hold after the presentation of the 2020 budget. Ngige said Federal Government will make all its books available to Labour at the meeting for critical examination after which the labour would be expected to negotiate on the strength of the available resources of government .
In his reaction, Chairman National Joint Negotiation Council, Comrade Adeoye Lawal made it clear that Labour is not going to the meeting tomorrow to look at books, but to draw conclusion on the consequential salary adjustment in accordance with the economic reality of the present time.