Labour rejects move to implement ‘unagreed’ minimum wage in Nasarawa

The organised labour in Nasarawa State has opposed the move by the state government to implement the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act without an agreed and signed salary table.

In a communique issued on Thursday, Labour said the move “to say the least is draconian, authoritative and against all known laws and principles of collective bargaining” and observed with utter disdain the clandestine move by the state government to pay this month’s salary with a unilateral and vexation salary table in the name of ₦70,500 minimum wage salary table to workers of the State.

They rejected the salary table proposed by Governor Abdullahi Sule and insisted that the minimum wage committee chaired by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Agbadu Akabe, be allowed to complete its assignment.

“The committee has not completed its assignment with an agreed and signed salary table as it is the practice all over the world. Where else does the Government get the salary table which it intends to use to pay the new wage to workers in December as stated by Governor Sule during the commissioning of the remodeled office of the Deputy Governor,” the labour union said.

The labour insisted that it has not entered into any agreement on the ₦70,500 Minimum Wage and its consequential adjustment. Therefore, the table to be used for the payment of December salary to workers will be illegal.

They lamented that in 2019, the government did not properly implement the ₦30,000 minimum wage until June 2024 when an agreement was signed between the government and organised labour on consequential adjustment with ₦1,500 as an addition for GL 7-16 workers.

“We wish to hereby reiterate that the state government to shelve this surreptitious move whose only aim is to sabotage the workers; follow the path of the rule of law and adhere to due process that guides the collective bargaining process,” the labour said.