TUC demands increase in minimum wage to ‘cushion effect of subsidy removal’

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has presented the federal government with a list of demands to cushion the effect of petrol subsidy removal on citizens.

The demands include an increase in the minimum wage, tax holiday for certain categories of people as well as reverting to status quo as negotiations continue.

While the government acknowledged the feasibility of the demands, they said the demands would be presented to President Bola Tinubu with immediate effect.

A federal government delegation held a meeting with representatives of organised labour, excluding the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Sunday night.

Dele Alake, spokesperson for the government’s delegation to the meeting, told state house correspondents after the meeting that most of the demands “are not impracticable” and they would be tabled before the president.

Alake said the president’s decisions will be relayed to labour leaders at the next round of negotiations fixed for Tuesday.

Asked if the other demand by the organised labour that the new pump price of petrol be reversed pending conclusion of negotiations, Alake said the decision would likely be taken on Tuesday when both sides meet again.

On NLC’s absence, he said it may be attributed to the inability to finalise with the NEC of the union before the meeting.

Nonetheless, negotiations will continue with all labour unions and stakeholders, he said.

Speaking to journalists, Festus Osifo, TUC president, said while some progress has been made with the negotiations, the union would still brief its members ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.

He declined to give a full list of the demands presented to the government on the grounds that the union wants to continue negotiating in good faith as the government delegation also did not reveal details of its own side of the meeting.