The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has questioned the Trade Union Congress\u2019 rejection of the Federal Government\u2019s proposed \u20a670,000 transport allowance, saying the union was not involved in negotiations with the government.\n<\/p>\n
Ajaero said the NLC had made it clear from the beginning that it was negotiating independently of the TUC, making the latter\u2019s opposition to the outcome surprising.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television\u2019s Morning Brief on Thursday, Ajaero said the TUC did not sign the agreement and argued that the union should not oppose an arrangement it did not negotiate.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is TUC challenging what was gotten for the workers when we stated clearly that NLC was acting alone?\u201d Ajaero asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe agreement was not signed by TUC, and you don\u2019t kick against something that you didn\u2019t negotiate, you never asked for,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
He added that he would have preferred the TUC to demand a higher allowance so that both unions could negotiate with the government towards a common position.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have preferred a situation whereby if NLC was asking for one naira, TUC would be asking for 10 naira, and probably the government would harmonise it,\u201d Ajaero said.<\/p>\n
The NLC president recalled that the disagreement began after the TUC president reportedly said the minimum wage would be due for negotiation in August 2027.<\/p>\n
Ajaero said the NLC disagreed with that position, insisting that it was inconsistent with the law, and proceeded with its own engagement with the government.\n<\/p>\n
He said the TUC had also distanced itself from the process after reports emerged that both labour centres were jointly meeting with the government.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started the first meeting, the media reported that NLC and TUC had a meeting. They threatened us and said they are not part of it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Ajaero added that the NLC subsequently issued a statement clarifying that it was acting alone in the negotiations.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came out with a statement that NLC is on this alone; we are not with TUC. So I would be surprised why TUC would be challenging what was gotten for the workers,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
On calls for a wage increase, Ajaero argued that such an adjustment could not be granted without a formal process involving the relevant stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes the government dash wage increase? There must be a process put in place,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
He noted that the same TUC had called for the process to begin in August 2027, adding that the NLC had advocated that the relevant committee commence work immediately.\n<\/p>\n
Ajaero said he remained concerned about the TUC\u2019s position on the transport allowance, questioning why the union would reject an arrangement it had not negotiated or secured.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been worried for some time now, why you say you reject something that was not given to you,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
PUNCH Online reported that the TUC had rejected the proposed \u20a670,000 wage award and demanded an immediate salary increase for workers.\n<\/p>\n
It said temporary wage awards are inadequate to address the economic hardship facing Nigerian workers, insisting the Federal Government should implement a salary increase instead.\n<\/p>\n
The congress stated this in a statement issued on Wednesday by its President, Festus Osifo, and Secretary-General, N.A. Toro, the congress said<\/p>\n
The TUC also accused the Federal Government of failing to fulfil its 2023 wage award obligations to some workers and of neglecting a seven-month-old agreement on the adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure for health workers under the Joint Health Sector Unions.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has questioned the Trade Union Congress\u2019 rejection of the Federal Government\u2019s proposed \u20a670,000 transport allowance, saying the union was not involved… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}