FG To Consider TUC’s Demands, Set Up Committee To Review Minimum Wage

The Federal Government says it will consider the list of demands from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) which includes minimum wage.

Speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting between the Federal Government and the TUC which lasted for about three hours, the spokesperson for the Federal government, Dele Alake, said that it will also look at the practicability of the demands.

Among things the government is considering is tax holidays for workers.

Alake said that most fundamentally President Bola Tinubu will constitute a tripartite committee to include states and organised labour and the private sector to study the dynamics of the minimum wage augmentation to reach an amicable conclusion.

According to him, there is no disagreement with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over their demand for a review of the minimum wage or a return to the status quo, noting that the FG representatives will meet with the President to crystallize decisions on the demands.

He added that the absence of the NLC does not translate to an isolation of the group in the discussion but that the FG is making efforts to reach them as the parties agreed to reconvene on Tuesday 24 hours before a scheduled strike by the NLC.

Meanwhile, the TUC has maintained that the Federal Government, in the interest of social dialogue, revert the price of fuel while discussions continue.

President of the TUC, Festus Osifo, said the union is hopeful as the Federal Government promised to look into their demands, the top of which is a review of the current minimum wage among others.

“The demands are so long, they are so many. Part of it is the demand for a (review) of the minimum wage and we stated that for us, it is quite apt that the minimum today is not a living wage, as we all know. The value of the minimum wage since it was negotiated, has plummeted to a very abysmal level as it is today.”