Labour may shift ground from N494,000 wage demand — TUC

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The Trade Union Congress (TUC) stated on Wednesday that it may retract from its N494,000 minimum wage demand from the federal government.

The Organised Labour also moved its stance from ₦497,000 stance last week to ₦494,000.

Speaking during Channels TV’s special programme during a review of one year of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, TUC President, Festus Osifo, said Nigerian workers were suffering.

“We reduced from N497,000 to N494,000 but are we going to dwell and stay there? The answer is no. It is a negotiation and a give-and-take.

“Remember we issued an ultimatum  May 1 and that ultimatum still subsists that by May 31, if the government refuses to do the needful, then we can no longer guarantee industrial peace.”

‘Unserious Govt’

The Federal Government on Tuesday added a sum of N3,000 to its initially proposed N57,000 minimum wage, making it N60,000.

However, the organised labour insisted on N494,000, removing N3,000 from its earlier N497,000 demand.

During the show, the TUC President described the Federal Government as being unsecrious with its treatment of workers.

“The onus is for the government to conclude the conversations and be much more serious, they are very unserious today because putting N60,000 on the table shows the smacks of unseriousness.

“If this conversation was taking place when fuel subsidy was still there if the conversation was taking place in a single-digit economy, it would have been a bit different,” he stated.