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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the failure of several state governments to fully implement the new minimum wage and consequential salary adjustments, with some states only adding a mere N5,000 to workers’ pay.
NLC President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, raised the concern on Tuesday in Abuja at the 6th National Gender Conference organised by the NLC National Women Commission.
The conference was themed, “Accelerate Action for Gender Equality: Imperative for a new NLC Gender Policy.”
Ajaero said the realities on the ground showed that workers were earning less despite the introduction of the new minimum wage due to deductions from taxes and inflation.
“The salaries of some workers are currently below the amount they were receiving before the new minimum wage of N70,000 was implemented, as a result of taxes and inflation,” Ajaero said.
Ajaero accused some governors of implementing the wage review superficially, the existing salary without fully engaging in the required consequential adjustment negotiations.
“The issue of implementing a minimum wage is the worst crime I have ever seen.
In some states, you just notice N5,000 on top of your salary. So what is the essence of consequential adjustment?
At the NLC level, we have negotiated for N70,000. At the level of consequential adjustment, the NLC was not contacted.
“So I wonder why workers should be short changed, I do not understand,” Ajaero said
He warned that the N70,000 wage was no longer enough to sustain the average Nigerian worker due to rising electricity tariffs and inflation. He noted that while some workers were silently frustrated by the flawed implementation, they had not formally submitted complaints to the NLC leadership.
source: nairametrics.com
