In recent times, the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have been agitating for an upward review of salaries for workers with a N56,000 proposal sent to the Federal Government for approval and implementation.
Some factions within the NLC even want it to be N90,000 due to inflation rates and the fall of the naira to the dollar.
Senator Chris Ngige who is the minister of Labour and Employment has that the Federal Government is looking critically at the proposal. He said this to allay any fears that the demands of the NLC and TUC are being ignored.
The Senator said this while receiving executives of the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa, OTUWA. He said, “The other day, the labour requested for increased wages for workers and they have only done what they are supposed to do. Therefore, nobody will quarrel with them. At the appropriate time, we shall all sit down because what labour is asking, is for the re-negotiation of an existing Collective Bargain Agreement, CBA. Every CBA based on an agreement is subject to re-negotiation at any given time that any of the partners requests for it.”
He was also keen to dismiss the notion that whenever there was a demand for labour, the government bristles. “It is wrong for people to think that whenever the labour makes such a demand the nation is boiling. The labour in Nigeria has for the first time met a labour-friendly government under President Muhammadu Buhari. The government has put machinery in motion as we speak because I have got a letter as the Minister of Labour and Employment for my advice. We shall advise government the way the tripartite negotiation will be handled so that everybody will be satisfied without any industrial unrest.” He said