A meeting of the Federal Government and the organised labour called in Abuja on Monday to resolve the disagreement on the implementation of the proposed minimum wage to Nigerian workers failed to achieve a middle ground as labour now looks set to press ahead with its planned three-day warning strike beginning from tomorrow (Wednesday).
Vice-President Namadi Sambo led the Federal Government negotiating team that also included Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, while the acting president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Promise Adewusi, and the President of Trade Union congress (TUC), Peter Esele, led the team from labour to the meeting which took place at the State House, Abuja.
Governor Oshiomhole, a former president of the NLC, who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting, pointed out that labour was forced into threatening a strike because of its perceived delay in forwarding the report on the minimum wage to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.
He said Monday’s meeting was to convince labour that the Federal Government was not delaying action unnecessarily just to buy time.
According to him, “Labour gave an ultimatum to the Federal Government to take action on the minimum wage report. They believe and I believe rightly that they didn’t see any action being taken on the report which was submitted in July and that is a long time now.
“But at the meeting, effort had been made to make the point that yes, some time had been lost and government now realised that we have to act fast and the meeting of the National Council of State has been slated for November 25 and the Council of State will finalise the decision and the report will be forwarded to the National Assembly,” he said.
Governor Oshiomhole was confident that once the report went to the legislature, it would be speedily dealt with, especially with the presence of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Council of State as members.
His words: “The good thing is that, members of the National Assembly are very well represented in the Council of State. We have the Senate President as a member, we have the Speaker as a member and therefore, all of us offer to ensure that once the Council of State does what it has to do, then the National Assembly will be encouraged to fast track the process so that we can have the outcome legislated into law.
Read More: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/13303-minimum-wage-fg-labour-meeting-deadlocked-strike-to-begin-on-schedule-nlc-nigerians-rush-to-banks-for-withdrawals
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