|
The long drawn battle between the Federal Government and the organised labour on Tuesday both parties signed a final agreement on the implementation of the 2011 minimum wage Act.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Pius Anyim, who led the government team announced to labour leaders the willingness of the Federal Government to pay a minimum wage of N18,900 to federal workers.
Other members of the government delegation included the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, and the Chairman, National Salaries Wages Commission, Chief Richard Egbule.
The presidents of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar and his counterpart from the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, signed the agreement entitled ‘Final Agreement between the Federal Government and the labour movement represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress on the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage Act 2011’ on behalf of labour.
Anyim said President Goodluck Jonathan had approved an annual release N11bn to take care of the salaries of federal workers in compliance with the agreement reached with workers.
He assured the labour representatives that the government would ensure that all measures required for the implementation of the agreement were put in place.
He commended the leadership of the organised labour for their maturity and show of patriotism which eventually led to the final agreement reached on the protracted labour disagreement.
Anyim said, “So, today we will be finalizing the process that has been on for some time now and I know each would have reviewed the agreement as jointly drafted. So, we will simply sign the agreement and we can assure you that on the side of the Federal government we will certainly put every machinery in motion to implement the agreement as signed.”
In his response, Omar expressed happiness at the resolution of the impasse, urging the Federal Government to adhere strictly to the date of implementation in the agreement.
He said the organised labour displayed goodwill and put in a lot of sacrifice during the long period of negotiation with the government and expected implementation of the new wage law without further problems.
His TUC counterpart, Esele advised the Federal Government to ensure that the laws of land and agreement reached were respected.
“We must all learn that subsequently, we won’t have to go through this long process of discussing and negotiating laws over and over again.”
The Chairman of Salaries and Wages Commission, Egbule, who was directed by the SGF to read the agreement, said the implementation of the new Act and the issues of salary relativity would be limited to N11bn.
He recalled that the government had implemented an harmonised salary structure for federal workers at 53.4 per cent which made it necessary for both labour and the FG to look into the implication of relativity on the implementation of the new law.
No comments:
Post a Comment