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Labour implores Ekiti to complete negotiation on minimum wage

By Ayodele Ayodele, Ado-Ekiti
07 January 2020   |   3:20 am
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ekiti State has urged the state government to quicken the completion of negotiation for the payment of consequential adjustment in the new minimum wage

Deliberation to be completed soon says the government

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ekiti State has urged the state government to quicken the completion of negotiation for the payment of consequential adjustment in the new minimum wage to workers in the state.

The NLC chairman in the state, Kolapo Olatunde, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said the sacking of workers should not be the priority of the government at the moment but rather the implementation of the national template on the consequential adjustment.

Olatunde said that the Labour had submitted all necessary documents but regretted that the government was not forthcoming since the committees had been put in place for the negotiation.

He said: “I believe that what we should be doing as a state now is the negotiation for the payment of consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage and not the issue of the sack. And I must say this, nobody talked to us that they would sack people because of the new minimum wage.

“We have inaugurated our committee and we have given the government the template from the national and that is the signed agreement. We have submitted all documents and we have not heard from them (government) since then.”

While lamenting the recent sack of workers in the state, the labour leader said the union was not carried along by the government before its decision to disengage workers in Ekiti State University (EKSU) and Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH).

“I have never seen where more than 1,000 will just be sacked in EKSU and more than 200 in EKSUTH. It is indeed a bad situation.

“If government wants to downsize, there is a need to call Labour for dialogue and tell us why they are doing it and normal protocol should be followed.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Yinka Oyebode, said the government had since October last year commenced payment of the minimum wage to lower-level workers in the state, adding that negotiations with the Labour unions on the consequential adjustment for other categories of workers would soon be completed.

“Don’t forget we have commenced payment for workers in that category since October but the consequential adjustment being demanded by Labour is the one remaining. However, discussions have reached an advanced stage with Labour in this regard and very soon, everything will be resolved.”

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