The Organized Labour in Abia State is pushing for a "consequential adjustment" to the new minimum wage, following an inconclusive meeting with the state government.
Ogbonnaya Okoro, Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, explained that the labour union, comprising NLC, TUC, and JNC, met with government representatives to discuss the wage adjustment. A committee, backed by their technical team, submitted a proposal last Friday, and the government promised to review it and schedule further talks.
"We were surprised that yesterday (Tuesday), the Commissioner for Information went on air to inform Abians that the government had approved the N70,000 minimum wage, which took us aback. We asked them which template the government used to approve the N70,000. After some time, they invited us for a meeting this evening, and here we are.
"The meeting is ongoing, and we have adjourned; it will continue on Thursday (Today).
“We asked the government side to produce their template since organised Labour has submitted its own so that the consequential adjustment negotiating team will bring theirs and the government will bring theirs, and we will disagree to agree. At the end of the day, we will establish a template that all parties will agree to, which will form a circular for the Abia State Government.”
Okoro also added, “The N70,000 is a law, and that is for Level 1, Step 1, and it is sacrosanct. You don’t touch or go below it; instead, you increase it. Rivers State increased their minimum wage to N75,000; Cross River, N80,000; but the minimum you can approve is N70,000.
“When we talk about consequential adjustment, it concerns people from Grade Level 1, 2, up to Grade 17, and so forth. There are percentages involved in working out these modalities for everyone. In Abia, we don’t have Levels 1 and 2, but we must start from Level 1 to account for them so that we will know what other levels are due. So for now, the discussion is ongoing,” among other issues.
