By Danlami Nmodu
The Federal Government and the Trade Union Congress,TUC will reconvene Tuesday to resume their dialogue triggered by the removal of fuel subsidy.
This was disclosed Sunday evening by Dele Alake who spoke to State House Press Corps on behalf of the Federal Government after a meeting with TUC at the Presidential Villa.
He also said TUC presented a list of demands and the call for an increase in minimum was top of the agenda.
Alake said:”..They presented a list of demands.Those demands, …..the items the list are not impracticable.What we need to do is to study the numbers very well.And then we advised the TUC to give us a leeway to consult very exhaustively and come back on Tuesday to reconvene on Tuesday and to actually look at the numbers, the viability, the practicability of all the items that were presented to us
“The most important, the top priority on the list which the government is also looking at very seriously..is the issue of the minimum wage which the labour movement has demanded as .. the consequential impact of removal of subsidy. So government is looking at that.
Alake disclosed that.” Mr President is most likely going to constitute a tripartite committee and that is a committee of Federal government and including the states, then the organised labour on the other part and the private sector.
“This is a tripartite arrangement.It will be a committee that would study all the dynamics of the wage increase, the percentages, the numbers and the categories that will be affected”, he explained.
“So by Tuesday when we come back to reconvene to meet with the TUC, labour movement, we should have very concrete items to present…But the most important is that we are making appreciable progress ….
Asked to shed light on other demands, Alake said ” ..It is a list…the most important is the minimum wage,that is increase of minimum wage, because when this thing is removed, the argument of labour is that there is immediate impact on the workers on the purchasing power.Because price of fuel has gone up, that will necessarily reduce the purchasing power of the average worker.
…There are other things like the tax holidays..”
While addressing journalists Comrade Festus Osifo,TUC President said, “Our NEC now mandated us with some list of demands to come and meet with government today..We have marshalled out our list of our demands to them.
“Topmost on our demand is that for utmost good faith and in the interest of social dialogue, that they should revert back the pump price while discussion continues
“We presented the list of our demands and they will go back to their principal and come back to us on Tuesday. So we are hopeful that the demand that we have presented will be reviewed in the best interest of Nigerian workers.
“The demands are so long, so many.Part of it was the demand for the (new) minimum wage.The minimum wage today is not a living wage.
“The value of the minimum wage has plummeted to abysmal level”, the TUC Presisent said.
