The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says it didn’t negotiate for the N40,000 across-the-board addition approved as consequential adjustment for federal workers following the 2024 national minimum wage.
Conveying this in a statement signed on by its Acting General Secretary, Comrade Benson Upah, the NLC described claims linking it to the figure as false, ignorant and mischievous.
The union disclosed it was forced to respond due to the deliberate spread of falsehood by opponents of the trade union movement and enemies of the Nigerian working class.
Upah quoted that the national minimum wage is negotiated through a tripartite process involving labour, government and employers, and that the mandate of the NLC at that stage is only to negotiate the wage floor below which no worker should be paid.
He said once the minimum wage is agreed, the responsibility for consequential adjustment – aligning existing wage structures with the new minimum – shifts to individual sectors.
He explained that, in the public sector, the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), comprising government representatives and about eight trade unions, negotiates implementation and consequential adjustments with the Federal Government, while its state counterparts negotiate with state governments.
In the private sector, industrial unions negotiate directly with employers’ associations. He cited the example of the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) negotiating with the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), he said.
“The NLC does not sit at the table to negotiate consequential adjustments in the various sectors. The leadership of the unions in these sectors bears sole responsibility for the outcomes in their respective sectors,” Upah added.
He maintained that the N40,000 outcome was the sole responsibility of the leadership of unions in the public sector.
He said: “Any person who attributes the outcome of consequential adjustments to the NLC is either naïve, plainly ignorant, or involved in propagating outright mischief.”
He added that throughout the history of minimum wage negotiations, the NLC has never negotiated consequential adjustment with government or organised private sector.
Upah stated that attempts were being made to sow confusion and division within labour ranks as negotiations for a new national minimum wage draw near.
He assured that the NLC would ensure the forthcoming exercise serves Nigerian workers and approximates a living wage, with measures to ensure consequential adjustments are done creatively for workers’ benefit.