Minimum Wage: Organised Labour Suspends Strike For Five Days

Members of the organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, on Tuesday, suspended their strike for five days, a leader of the NLC told our correspondent in Abuja.

This is to give room for uninterrupted meetings with the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage.

The centres are expected to issue a statement shortly before the commencement of negotiations with the government.

This was confirmed by TUC chairman, Festus Osifo on Tuesday.

The strike which commenced on Monday was called to protest the failure of the Federal Government to approve new minimum wage by May 31 as well as its failure to reverse the hike in electricity tariff.

JomogNews reports that after a six-hour meeting with the leadership of organised labour in Abuja on Monday night, the Federal Government expressed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to raising the N60,000 offered as the minimum wage.

The agreement stated, “The President of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is committed to establishing a National Minimum Wage higher than N60,000; and the Tripartite Committee will convene daily for the next week to finalise an agreeable National Minimum Wage.”

The organised labour also agreed to “immediately hold meetings of its organs to consider this new offer, and no worker would face victimisation as a consequence of participating in the industrial action.”

These resolutions were signed on behalf of the Federal Government by Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

Details later…