…as South Africa pays N126,000 minimum wage
President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Idris Wabba, has said that in prosecuting workers’ welfare, it is the Nigerian government giving labour head ache, not the private sector.
According to him, the corporate body is cooperating with labour on the controversial minimum wage while government is proving difficult.
Speaking in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Tuesday, during the opening session of the 2018 meeting of the joint national public service negotiating council, Wabba said the private sector not only paid higher wages than government, it was also more sensitive in other welfare areas.
He said, “The private sector has actually displaced the public sector in industrial relation and collective bargaining role model, our experiences during the negotiations for the new minimum wage showed that the employers in the private sectors are more forthcoming and forthright, moving negotiation forward to mutual acceptable figure, while government continues to live in denial and even stop the conclusion for the negotiation.
“Private employers remain willing to sustain industrial relation harmony by supporting positions that will ensure that workers get appreciable wages increase, while government continues to politicize our agreement, devoid of genuine interest.”
Meanwhile, South Africa may have strengthened Nigerian workers’ resolve to agitate for better pay by the new minimum wage package it has unveiled.
It wants to pay N126,000 – four times than what the Nigerian rulers say they cannot pay.
He added that state governments still owe salaries, pension and arrears of civil servants despite several interventions in form of bail-out, Paris club refunds, other initiatives and budgetary supports.
from dailypost
