NEW MINIMUM WAGE: FG, LABOUR REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

Nigeria Labour Congress NLC and Trade Union Congress TUC are to meet its critical organs to decide the way forward in its one day strike that has shut down critical sectors of the economy.

This is sequel to over an eight hour meeting between the Federal Government and the leadership of Labour which ended last night, with an agreement for the Organized Labour to innitiate efforts to call off the one day old strike.

Those who endorsed the agreement on the side of the  Government were the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris and Minister of State (Labour and Employment) Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

While the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero and Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Festus Osifo signed on behalf of Labour.

The meeting also agreed on the non victimisation of members of the labour unions that participated in the strike, which Monday grounded activities at airports, schools, ports, banks, power stations as well as other critical infrastructure across the country.

The strike have also in some states disrupted the ongoing WAEC Senior Secondary School examinations.

At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Murtala Mohammed International  Airport, Lagos as well as other local and international airports across the country, thousands  of passngers were stranded, as the aviation sector was chief among facilities where labour enforced the strike action.

Enforcement of the strike also resulted into a nation wide power blackout, with workers of power generating and distribution companies downing tools in obedience to the NLC/TUC general strike, over disagreement with government on an appropriate minimum wage for  Nigerian workers.

While Government was putting forward N60,000 as minimum wage, labour was insisting on ….

However reports from last night negotiations, indicate that the Federal government has agreed in principal to pay a wage above the N60,000 it had proposed before the strike.

To ensure that this is completed immediately, the negotiation committee has been mandated to meet every day in the next week to reach an agreement on the new minimum wage.