The job calls for the adjustment of the minimum wage of N70,000 in Abia

Organized labor in Abia State has demanded what it calls a “consequential adjustment” in the implementation of the new minimum wage.

Addressing the press after an inconclusive meeting with the state government on Wednesday, the state president of the Nigeria Labor Congress, Ogbonnaya Okoro, said: “The organized labor comprising the NLC, TUC and JNC , were in the House of Government to continue negotiations on the subsequent adjustment of the minimum wage.

“The commission set up for this task, along with our technical team, met with the government team this evening. We sent in our template on Friday of last week and were told that they would look into it and invite us to another round of meetings.

“We were surprised that yesterday (Tuesday), the information commissioner went on air to inform Abians that the government had approved the minimum wage of N70,000, which surprised us. We asked them what template he used the government to approve the N70, 000. After a while, we were invited to a meeting this evening, and here we are.

The meeting is in progress, and we have adjourned; will continue tomorrow (Thursday).

“We have asked the government side to come up with their template, as organized Labor has put forward their template so that the negotiating team for the consequential adjustment will bring theirs and the government will bring theirs, and we will not be ‘agreement. At the end of the day, we will establish a template that all parties will agree to, which will form a circular for the Abia State government.”

When asked about the nature of the consequential adjustment or the template produced by the union, Okoro said: “The N70,000 is a law, and that is for level 1, step 1, and it is sacrosanct. There is no you don’t go below it, instead, you raise it to N75,000, but the minimum you can pass is N70,000.

“When we talk about consequential adjustment, it refers to people from level 1, 2, up to 17 and so on. There are percentages involved in working out these modalities for everyone. In Abia, we don’t have level 1 and 2, but we have to start from level 1 to explain them to know what other levels should be paid. So for now, the discussion is ongoing,” among other issues.