Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the federal government to consider an annual review of the national minimum wage because of the inflationary trend and the value of the naira.
NLC President Joe Ajaero made the call in Abuja at the second National Labour Adjudication and Arbitration Forum, organised by the National Employers Consultative Association (NECA).
Mr Ajaero said the government should rethink the five-year cycle of minimum wage because it was not favourable to the Nigerian workers.
According to him, no matter the amount negotiated, it would have been eaten up by inflation before the end of the five-year cycle.
“There is a need to tinker with the law providing for five yearly renegotiations of national minimum wage to allow for yearly adjustment of wages based on the rate of inflation and value of the naira.
“This is important because people have been coming up to say that if we increase salaries, it will affect inflation. However, we cannot leave salary to be constant while other variables continue to grow,’’ he said.
Mr Ajaero said workers were displeased with the federal government’s poor implementation of the N35,000 wage award.
There is a need to tinker with the law providing for five yearly renegotiations of national minimum wage to allow for yearly adjustment of wages based on the rate of inflation and value of the naira.
The NLC president added that most federal government workers had not received their January salary.
He, therefore, called on the government to expedite the implementation of the 16-point agreement reached with organised labour to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, commended NECA for collaborating with the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) to organise the forum.
She said the forum would foster stakeholder dialogue and promote peaceful industrial relations.
Dike Plang, chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, said the event was apt and critical to the sustainable industrial relations in Nigeria.
The lawmaker assured the national assembly would ensure a comprehensive review and amendment of existing labour laws to conform to international labour standards.
He also commended President Bola Tinubu for constituting the tripartite committee on reviewing minimum wage for workers. (NAN)
