The Federal Government has appealed to the organised labour to shelve its proposed strike on non-implementation of eighteen thousand naira National minimum wage by federal and state governments.
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu made the appeal in Abuja at a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC and the National Salaries and Wages Commission.
It would be recalled that the federal government had through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, released a template for the implementation of the new minimum wage.
But speaking at meeting between organised labour and federal government team led by Minister of Labour and Productivity, NLC President Comrade Abdulwaheed said that government had no locus stand to release the template without contributions from critical stakeholders.
He said it was unfortunate that government had not shown any serious commitment to the implementation of the new wage, pointing out that since all the critical stakeholders were involved in the process of negotiations, they were expected to be carried along in the process of setting up a template for its implementation.
However, speaking with journalists at the end of a closed door meeting with the labour representatives, Wogu reiterated federal government commitment to pay the new wage.
He said federal government would not only pay the wage, but would also pay the accrued arrears from the day the bill became law through the President assent.
While urging the organised labour to reconsider their stand on the planned strike, he said the country could not afford another round of strike at a time it was facing serious security threat.
However, given the outcome of the meeting, there are indications that the nationwide strike billed to start this week Friday, may not hold.
The organised labour had last week given the federal government, states governments and the organised private sector 14 days ultimatum within which to commence the implementation of the new minimum wage or faced a nationwide strike.
As the whole thing stands now, NLC and Trade Union Congress, (TUC) will have to revert to their National Executive Councils before any definite pronouncement could be made on the strike issue.
While NLC is expected to convene its own NEC meeting today TUC will hold its own on Friday, the day the strike is expected to begin, giving the indication they may have backed down on the strike.
Acting NLC Secretary General, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, who addressed journalists at the end of the meeting alluded to the fact that the strike might have been put in abeyance, as he said that labour would need to revert to NEC before any further move could be made.
Also speaking on the likelihood of the strike, TUC President General, Comrade Peter Esele, said he would have to report back to NEC and that it was after then that the union could make any categorical statement on the strike issue.
Source: Radio Nigeria
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