Labour May Resume Indefinite Strike As Tripartite Committee Okays N62k As Minimum Wage

The Tripartite Committee constituted by the Federal Government on National Minimum Wage has concluded negotiation with a recommendation of N62,000 as the monthly minimum wage for civil servants.

The recommendation was disclosed late Friday night after a marathon meeting of the committee in Abuja.

ABN TV reports that while the federal government and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) agreed on the N62,000 offer as the new National Minimum Wage, the Organized Labour has rejected the offer, insisting on N250,000 figure.

The disagreement is likely to force the umbrella bodies of the civil servants in the country – Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) – to reactivate their relaxed indefinite strike action earlier embarked upon by their members on Monday.

It will be recalled that the Tripartite Committee had earlier offered N60,000 as minimum wage to the workers, a development which made the Organised Labour to withdraw from the negotiation table and declare an indefinite strike action to press home its demands for higher wage and reversal of the electricity tariff hike.

At the end of the first day of the devastating strike action on Monday, the SGF, Senator George Akume, spearheaded a meeting with the Labour unions after which a four-point resolution was reached, including a commitment by President Bola Tinubu to pay a new minimum wage higher than the N60,000 offer.

Thereafter on Tuesday, the President told the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to work out a realistic national minimum wage template within 48 hours.

At press time on Friday night, the formal reaction of the Organised Labour on the latest development was being awaited.

Details Later…