No going back on new minimum wage, says NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday called on  the Federal Government to reconstitute the tripartite committee to negotiate a new minimum wage in view of the current economic recession facing the country.

  Speaking at 59^th Annual General Meeting, NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the National Minimum Act should be renegotiated.
He said: “The developments within the economy which has made nonsense of the purchasing power of the workers make the case for a new National Minimum Wage urgent. “We hope that we will not be pushed into taking action that would be costly for the economy, which is already in deep trouble as it were. “Our standpoint is that any of the parties to the negotiation who may have reasons why we shouldn’t have a new National Minimum Wage should bring those arguments to the negotiation table.”

 He added: “When the 2011 National Minimum Wage Act was being signed, all the tripartite partners were in agreement that this would be renegotiated after every five years. The fiveyear
timeframe is here.

 “The developments within the economy which has made none sense of the purchasing power of the workers, all make the case for a new national minimum wage urgent. We hope that we will not be pushed into taken action that would be costly to the economy, which is already in deep trouble as
it were. Our standpoint is that any of the parties to the negotiation who may have reasons why we should not have a new national minimum wage should bring those arguments to the negotiating table”