The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has revealed that organized labor has unanimously agreed on a new minimum wage demand of ₦615,000 from the federal government for Nigerian workers.
TUC President, Festus Osifo, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja, stating that this decision aligns with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Initially, the TUC proposed a minimum wage of ₦447,000, but after consultations with the NLC, they settled on the higher figure.
”The negotiations by the Tripartite Committee are still ongoing. If you remember, the TUC earlier submitted N447, 000 as the new minimum wage, but we have harmonised our figure with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
“It is now N615,000. Regarding the when for the new minimum wage, the committee is still working.
“So, certainly, May 1 will not work for the pronouncement of the new minimum wage. Except if the Federal Government wants to pay the minimum wage of N500,000 to workers,” he said.
Osifo added that the government might not agree to the ₦615,000 demanded by organised labour, but that is their own position, and negotiations would take off from that point.
”The government also has its markup, and so conversations and negotiations will start and end somewhere.
”If you look at the N615. 000, you will think that the amount is right, but at about the time we did that computation, a dollar was about N1,700.
”I am hopeful that the committee will meet after May 1,” he said.