The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, President, Mr. Festus Osifo, has said that the much-awaited new minimum wage may not be announced on May 1.
Osifo who said this while speaking with newsmen on Friday in Abuja noted that negotiations by the Tripartite Committee are still ongoing.
“If you remember, the TUC earlier submitted N447, 000 as the new minimum wage, but we have harmonized our figure with the Nigeria Labor Congress, NLC.
“It is now N615,000. Regarding the timing of the new minimum wage, the committee is still working.
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“So, certainly, May 1 will not work for the pronouncement of the new minimum wage. Unless the Federal Government wants to pay the minimum wage of N500,000 to workers,” he said.
He, however, mentioned that the N615,000 demanded by organized labor is not sacrosanct.
“The government also has its markup, so conversations and negotiations will start and end somewhere,” he said.
He also noted that before organized labor arrived at that amount, a proper study was conducted.
“If you look at the N615. 000, you will think that the amount is right, but at about the time we did that computation, a dollar was about N1,700.
“I am hopeful that the committee will meet after May 1,” he said.
Credible News reports that the 37-member tripartite committee on minimum wage set up by the Federal Government to continue further negotiations and consultations on the new minimum wage is expected to be announced by President Bola Tinubu on May 1.
Credible news.ng
