In a last-minute move, the organized labour in Nigeria has reached an agreement with the Federal Government to suspend the planned strike. The agreement was reached after a four-hour marathon emergency meeting with the leaders of Organized Labour.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress are expected to suspend their planned strike slated to commence on Tuesday after discussing the resolutions with their state chapters and affiliates.
The Federal Government announced a provisional wage increase for all federal government workers for six months. However, labour leaders rejected Bola Tinubu’s N25,000 provisional wage increment for workers.
They also rejected the government’s proposed six-month period the provisional increase covers and insisted that it should run until a new minimum wage is approved.
Sources at the meeting also said the unions insisted that the wage increase should be reviewed upwards to N35,000. As a result, the Federal Government raised the wage award to N35,000.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mallam Mohammed Idris, disclosed that the parties resolved that the issues in dispute could only be resolved when workers were at work and not when they were on strike.
A sub-committee is to be constituted to work out the details of implementation of all items for consideration regarding government interventions to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.
Bola Tinubu agreed to increase the provisional wage award for all treasury-paid Federal Government workers to N35,000 for 6 months.