N35,000 wage award: Organised Labour gives fresh ultimatum to 36 governors

The 36 governors in the country have been issued a two-week ultimatum by organised labour to begin negotiations with its members on the N35,000 wage award for workers in their state.

According to The Punch, the labour is asking the states to negotiate with their workers in line with the memorandum of understanding between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the federal government.

The NLC and the TUC handed down the ultimatum to the governors on Tuesday, October 17, urging the governors to fast-track the necessary protocols and implementation of the review to mitigate the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on members.

They said the wage award payment deadline would expire in two weeks; therefore, the governors need to commence the implementation as soon as possible.

The NLC and TUC at the national level reached an agreement with the federal government on October 1 for workers to be getting N35,000 pending the new national minimum wage being signed into law.

Also, the union and the government agreed that the wage award would be paid to federal workers for six months while the governors were urged to take similar steps to benefit the workers.

The organised labour had earlier threatened to embark on a nationwide strike on October 3, but the government was able to stop the move with the agreement in wage award.