President Bola Tinubu will today meet with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and their Trade Union of Nigeria, TUC, counterparts as part of his consultations with the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage. The President's consultations are to herald his presentation of an executive bill on a new minimum wage to the National Assembly for legislation.
Vanguard gathered the meeting will commence at the Presidential Villa at 2 pm.
Recall that following the failure of the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage to agree on a figure, the President decided to consult with stakeholders before deciding on the issue. President Tinubu had earlier met with the Organized Private Sector, OPS, and the state governors to get their input before an executive bill is forwarded to the National Assembly.
Speaking on today's meeting with the President, one of the labour leaders told Vanguard that they were going to the meeting to explain to the President that it was only good wages, as demanded by organized labour, that could assist the government in growing the economy.
He said: "Yes, we are meeting with the President tomorrow (today) as part of the consultations with stakeholders, especially the tripartite committee on minimum wage. The President had earlier met with governors and the OPS. Our meeting with the President holds at 2pm.
"We are insisting on our demand which we submitted on the final day of negotiations. We will explain to the President why we are insisting on N250,000.
"The President is talking about reflating the economy. We will let him know that it is when workers have more money to spend that the economy can grow. When workers have more money, they will spend such money Nigeria.
"They will not take the money outside the country to spend. They will spend it on goods produced in Nigeria, goods that manufacturers have been complaining are wasting away in the warehouses.
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"When this happens, the manufacturers will have more money to increase production and even create more employment opportunities. This in turn, will take jobless Nigerians off the streets and assist in reducing insecurity.
"So, that is the message we are taking to the President tomorrow (today). In actual sense, we have the same agenda with the government to reflate the economy and create wealth for everybody."
Recall that the tripartite committee on NNMW had Friday, June 8 ended negotiations without agreement due to sharp division in figures between employers (government and OPS) and Organised Labour (NLC and TUC).
Contrary to expectations, the Federal Government negotiating team on June 8 added N2, 000 to its N60, 000 offer of May 31, leading to the deadlock that forced Labour to declare a nationwide.
As a result of the deadlock, the committee resolved to take both the N62, 000 offer by the federal government team which has the backing of the OPS and N250, 000 now demanded by Organised Labour to President Tinubu for further action.
Organised Labour's negotiating team had walked out of the committee meeting after the Federal Government increased its offer to N60, 000 from the N57, 000 it offered on Wednesday, May 22.
Labour negotiating team had on May 15, walked out of the tripartite committee meeting after the government offered N48,000 and Organised Private Sector, OPS, offered N54,000, against the N615,000
