Tinubu to meet with NLC, TUC leaders today over new minimum wage

Tinubu to meet with NLC, TUC leaders today over new minimum wage

Bola Tinubu will meet the organised, labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) as part of consultations before sending a bill on a new national minimum wage to the National Assembly.

TUC President Comrade Festus Osifo confirmed this to reporters yesterday.

“The president has invited the organised labour (NLC, TUC) for consultation tomorrow (today), he said in a short text message.

On Tuesday, the Labour leader told reporters at the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Women Commission’s maiden Annual Convention in Abuja that labour is hopeful of a better deal

According to him, Labour expects that ‘what will be submitted to the National Assembly will actually be a minimum wage that will cater for the poorest of the poor’.

Progress on a new national minimum wage appeared to have stalled after President Tinubu said he needed to consult with stakeholders before sending the bill for enactment.

In his June 12 broadcast, the President said an executive bill would be sent to the National Assembly to formalise the new minimum wage agreement.

It followed the conclusion of negotiations by the Tripartite Committee and the submission of the report on June 10.

While the government and the Organised Private Sector agreed on N62,000, labour demanded N250,000.

Osifo said some level of ‘internal work’ was ongoing before the bill would be submitted in ‘earnest’.

“The minimum wage negotiations cannot be dead. The 2019 minimum wage (that has expired) took about two years to see the light of day. We started the negotiations in 2017. We promised you when we started in January that we would ensure this one is fast-tracked to avoid the conundrum of 2019 which took two years,” he added.