{"id":169,"date":"2024-06-02T23:55:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T23:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=169"},"modified":"2024-06-02T23:55:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T23:55:47","slug":"labour-nass-mediation-efforts-ends-in-deadlock-govt-pledges-to-continue-payment-of-n35000-wage-award-as-labour-insists-on-embarking-on-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2024\/06\/02\/labour-nass-mediation-efforts-ends-in-deadlock-govt-pledges-to-continue-payment-of-n35000-wage-award-as-labour-insists-on-embarking-on-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour, NASS mediation efforts ends in Deadlock   &#8230;..Govt pledges to continue payment of N35,000 wage award\u00a0   &#8230;.As labour insists on embarking on strike\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">By George Mgbeleke (Abuja)<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Efforts by the leadership of National Assembly to avert the looming nationwide strike by organized Labour on Sunday ended in Deadlock as both government delegation and leadership of labour refused to shift ground.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">Briefing journalists after the end of the meeting , the President of the Senate , Godswill Akpabio said tremendous appeal was made to the Labour leaders to call off the strike as the National Assembly steps into the matter directly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; After about four hours deliberation with leadership of the Organized Labour , we resolved that the Federal Government should re introduced the wage Award of N35, 000 given to all categories of federal workers from October last year to February this year , pending the time the issue of minimum wage is resolved .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; We have appealed to the organized labour to shelve the strike action because of the consequences and collateral damage involved .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; For example , we cannot at this time allow hospitals to be shut down to save the lives of those on emergencies or aided by oxygen to breathe .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; We are very much aware of all the steps taken by the Federal Government and Labour to agree on acceptable minimum wage and very much ready to join in the negotiation by reaching out to President Bola Tinubu.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; We believe that leadership of the\u00a0 organized labour after leaving here , will reach out to their entire membership to call of the strike in the interest of all Nigerians &#8221; , he said .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Speaker of the House of Representatives , Hon Tajudeen Abbas in his own remarks said &#8221;\u00a0 the\u00a0 take home\u00a0 from the meeting were that the federal government would be prevailed upon to re &#8211; introduce the N35, 000 wage award pending the time agreement on minimum wage is reached between it and the labour unions .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; That leadership of both the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC) and Trade Union Congress ( TUC )\u00a0 , should go and consult with their members\u00a0 on the need to quickly call off the strike in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians &#8221; .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">However in his own submission after the meeting , the President of TUC, Comrade Festus Osifo said though the leadership of the National Assembly has prevailed on us to call off the strike going by assurance given to step into the negotiation but the strike cannot be called off by them without consulting their various organs.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; It is difficult and infact impossible for us as labour leaders , to call off the strike here . We\u00a0 need to\u00a0 communicate with our various organs , meaning that , the industrial action starts on Monday as planned &#8220;, he said.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">But the Minister of Information and National Orientation , Alhaji Mohammed Idris Malagi , expressed optimism that labour will call off the strike as soon as possible based on appeal made to them by leadership of the National Assembly.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">He said the Federal government would continue to pay the N35,000 wage award to all categories of federal workers pending the minimum wage issue is resolved .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;Federal government is more than willing to pay its workforce , living minimum wage but the N494,000 demanded for by labour is too\u00a0 high with attendant N9 5trillion additional financial burden .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; In as much the federal government wants to improve the welfare and wellbeing of her\u00a0 1 2million workers , is also very mindful of the welfare and wellbeing of the remaining 200million people\u00a0 .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8221; Nigeria cannot afford strike action now . The leadership of the labour union should please reason with government and appeal made to it by leaders of the National Assembly .<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Secretary to the Government of the Federation , Senator George Akume ,\u00a0 Minister of Finance , Wale Edun , Minister Budget and National Planning , Senator Atiku Bagudu , Minister\u00a0 of\u00a0 Power , Adevayo Adelabu and the President pf Nigeria Labour Congress , Comrade Joe Ajaero etc, attended the meeting .<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; By George Mgbeleke (Abuja) Efforts by the leadership of National Assembly to avert the looming nationwide strike by organized Labour on Sunday ended in Deadlock as both government delegation and leadership of labour refused to shift ground. Briefing journalists after the end of the meeting , the President of the Senate , Godswill Akpabio [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[62,97,104,23,105,103],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-uncategorized","tag-govt","tag-labour","tag-meeting","tag-nass","tag-strike","tag-wages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}