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| Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar |
BARELY 24 hours after negotiators from both sides accused each other of being recalcitrant, the Federal Government and organised labour on Tuesday finally reached an agreement for the implementation of the new Minimum Wage Act.
Under the agreement, the government will now accommodate all categories of workers in the implementation of the Act. The new Act pegs the minimum wage of the lowest earning worker in the country at N18,000 per month.
The agreement came 48 hours behind schedule as the July19 initial truce between the Federal Government and labour specified July 31 as the date on which negotiations over the new minimum wage regime should be concluded.
Labour had called off the three-day warning strike that was to commence on Wednesday July 20 based on the July 19 agreement. The agreement had also specified that the implementation of the new legislation would commence August 1.
“The Federal Government has agreed to the implementation of the Minimum Wage Act 2011. We have reached an agreement with the two unions, the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress,” Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, said in Abuja on Tuesday.
The final round of negotiation over the implementation started at about 5.30 on Saturday and witnessed tense moments and adjournments. It held in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The government had argued that the Minimum Wage Act was not a wage review, because the Federal Government had increased wages by about 53 per cent only the previous year. But labour’s negotiating team had insisted that the minimum wage would apply to all categories of workers.
This led to several adjournments during the negotiations with labour saying it saw no light at the end of the tunnel because of what it described as the government’s “unacceptable offer and position.”
Wogu said the details of the relativity arrangement had been sorted out and it would be worked out by the National Executive Councils of the NLC and the TUC and that the implementation would commence from August 1.
The minister promised that nobody who participated in the negotiation on the side of labour would be persecuted.
“Whatever role anybody played, they will not be victimized by government,” Wogu said.
The minister, who was part of the Federal Government’s negotiating team that comprised the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim; Head of Service, Prof Oladapo Afolabi; and the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said labour would communicate with the government when NECs of the NLC and TUC had worked out the details of the implementation of the agreement.
NLC President, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, who spoke briefly after the minster, also said that the adjustments in the details of the implementations would be sorted out by the joint technical committee of labour.
Omar said the negotiations had dragged on because of differences about payment relativity and wage adjustments.
“It should cut across board in order to maintain some reasonable relativity. It was as if everything was to start and stop with grade levels 1-6. I am happy we have been able to sort this out.
“The issue of adjustments cutting across board and will be sorted out by a joint technical committee, hopefully from this moment,” he said.
He added that the respective labour unions would now make representations to their various groups at meetings between today and tomorrow.
“This would hopefully culminate into finalising whatever agreement that would be reached with the government regarding the implementation of the minimum wage,” he said.
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