Labour not fixated on N494k minimum wage not everyone can afford it — Festus Osifo

Labour not fixated on N494k minimum wage not everyone can afford it — Festus Osifo

Festus Osifo, president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC),
says organised labour will not accept an “unreasonable” addition to the N60,000
minimum wage offer by the federal government.

 

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on
Tuesday, Osifo said labour would not have embarked on a strike if the federal
government had shown signs of seriousness in previous meetings.

 

Earlier, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and TUC “relaxed”
their indefinite strike by one week to negotiate with the federal government on
a new minimum wage.

 

The NLC and the TUC had declared an indefinite strike, which
started on Monday, over the failure of the federal government to meet their
minimum wage demand.

On Monday night, the labour unions reached an agreement with
the federal government to fix a new minimum wage, which is above N60,000.

 

Speaking on the development, Osifo said the federal
government understands that organised labour is not “fixated” on the demand for
the N494,000 minimum wage.

 

The TUC president said the labour unions knew it would be
difficult for all parties involved to afford the N494,000 offer.

 

 “We also told them
that it is not that we get to the table you start adding N1 and N3,000 as they
were doing,” Osifo said.

 

“If they (the federal government) had told us on Sunday that
we should give them one week to resolve the issue.

 

“If what we achieved yesterday (Monday) was achieved on
Sunday, there was no need for us to embark on industrial action.

 

“’In all seriousness, they know we are not fixated on
N494,000, and we know on our part that N494,000 cannot be afforded by
everybody.”

Source: Labour not fixated on N494k minimum wage not everyone can afford it — Festus Osifo

 - NigerianEye

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