Organised Labour has said that it is not fixated on any figure as discussions continue between it, the Federal Government and organised private sector.
President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, who was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief on Friday, told viewers that no figure is sacrosanct as there is always room for adjustments.
The tripartite committee on minimum wage ended its deliberations last week, submitting two figures to President Bola Tinubu for consideration as the new minimum wage.
While the government and the organised private sector are proposing ₦62,000, labour is asking for ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage.
State governors recently said they could nit afford to pay even the N60000 being proposed by the committee.
President Tinubu also on Wednsaday said that he will only approve a new minimum wage that the government can afford. Tinubu is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly for legislative action on the matter.
However, Osifo said nothing is cast in stone yet on the matter.
“What we said is that for us when we give figures, there is always a room to meander, there is always a room for us to do some adjustment here and there,” Osifo said.
“So, there is no figure that is sacrosanct, there is no figure that is cast in stone that both parties will be fixated on it. One of the reasons that we went on industrial action the last time was because when it got to N60,000, they told us that a kobo cannot even join the N60,000, that they cannot even add one naira to it.
“So that was one of the reasons that led to that industrial action beyond the fact that there were also delays.”
The TUC President said though Labour was not going to pre-empt the President on the nature of the bill to be sent to the lawmakers, Labour was lobbying to ensure thr figure should align more towards figure presented by the labour instead of the one by the organised private sector and the government.
He said that if the President sends a figure that is not favourable to the labour to the National Assembly, they will still approach the lawmakers and push them to do much more.
Saying it is premature to predict what Labout would do if the figure passed into law is not acceptable, Osifo vowed that the work of the labour leaders will not end until the Minimum Wage Act 2024 becomes law.
