Organised labour yesterday gave the three tiers of government October 31 as deadline to pay the ₦30,000 new minimum wage.
Following series of stalemated talks, both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had last week issued an ultimatum urging federal government to conclude negotiations on the consequential adjustment on the new minimum wage on or before October 16.
NLC and TUC also gave federal government till Wednesday (tomorrow) to reconvene and conclude negotiation on consequential adjustment for the new minimum wage.
The two labour centres warned that if their demands on the full implementation of the new minimum wage were not met on close of work on October 16, they would embark on industrial action without notice to government.
In a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting between NLC, TUC and the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC-Trade Union Side) in Abuja, the labour movement had rejected the offer by government for salary adjustment of 11 per cent for public workers on salary grade level 07 – 14 and 6.5 per cent consequential increase for public workers on grade level 15 – 17.
However, speaking for the federal government, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had pointed out that the only way government could meet demands of labour is to retrench workers or sack redundant ones.