The Federal Government on Sunday night came under pressure and announced a N35,000 increase in salary for all categories of its workers to avert the planned total shut down of the economy by the planned strike by the NLC and the TUC.
This shift in position came after the organised labour turned down the N25,000 earlier offered by President Bola Tinubu for low-level workers during his Independence Day broadcast.
This new development is in a report of a crucial meeting held between the labour unions and the Federal Government on Sunday.
Some of the high-points of the meeting are as follow:
“i) The Federal Government has announced N35,000 only as a provisional wage award for all treasury-paid federal government workers for six months following further consultation with President Bola Tinubu.
“ii) The Federal Government is committed to fast-tracking the provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to ease public transportation difficulties associated with the removal of the PMS subsidy.
“iii) The Federal Government commits to the provision of funds for micro and small-scale enterprises.
“In light of the discussions held during the meeting, the following were the major highlights:
“The Federal Government urged the Labour unions not to embark on strike action as the issues in dispute can only be resolved when workers are at work.
“Labour Unions made a case for higher wage awards. A sub-committee to be constituted to work out the details of implementation of all items regarding government interventions to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.”
