The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the call by some politicians for decentralised minimum wage negotiations.
Secretary of the NLC in Oyo State, Mr Adebayo Aribatise, said decentralising minimum wage negotiations would put workers in some states at a disadvantage.
Some politicians, including Kayode Fayemi, had stressed the need to allow states to conduct wage negotiations with their labour unions, separate from that of the Federal Government.
The former governor of Ekiti State said the position of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which he once chaired, was that states should be allowed to have negotiations with their labour unions because ‘all fingers are not equal.’
Explaining the broader implications of a centralised minimum wage, the former governor noted that only a small percentage of the population benefits directly from the minimum wage negotiations.
However, Aribatise frowned at decentralising minimum wage negotiations, saying that it was not ideal for the country.
He noted that some states in the country had not yet fully implemented the old N30,000 minimum wage, despite the efforts put in place by the NLC at the national and state levels.
Besides, the labour leader said that some governors would abuse the privilege if they were allowed to negotiate minimum wage with their states’ workforce.
“The fact remains that the law binds states to pay national minimum wage. It is expected that the Federal Government will continue to set the minimum wage. If not, some governors will continue to do as they like.
“Some governors will bastardise the agreement if we allow it, and junior workers will continue to earn nothing worthwhile,” he said.