By Damisi Ojo, Akure
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ondo State has said it will not sign any wage agreement that will impoverish or cause workers to be retrenched.
State NLC Chairman Sunday Adeleye-Oluwole, in an interview on Wednesday, explained that negotiations on the new wage, which had hitherto been suspended, resumed and was 85 per cent concluded.
“The process may be concluded before end of this week,” he said.
According to him, the delay in approval and implementation was due to labour’s insistence to get a better package for the people.
Adeleye-Oluwole noted that the new salary structure presented by the government was being studied to ensure the agreed salary would be sustainable and not lead to irregular payment and retrenchment.
The NLC chair promised that the new wage would capture special allowances for the media, judiciary, parliamentary and health workers.
He appealed to workers to be patient as negotiation was at a final stage.
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“The negotiation is not led by NLC, but by the Joint Negotiating Council (NJC), as directed by the national headquarters of NLC and TUC. We are just supporting the JNC, and that was what we had been doing. I want to say that in the last two months, the JNC, in its wisdom, had set up negotiation committee and since then, we have met more than seven times.
“JNC has the final say concerning this minimum wage issue. But as at now, going by what happened yesterday (Tuesday), we have got to 85 per cent completion.
“Also, pensioners are being carried along, because we believe that all of us will become pensioners one day. From what I have been following, I can say before this week runs out, we should be able to come out with specific tables; and we are working on five different tables for the judiciary, the parliament and media workers.”
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