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NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE NEGOTIATION:A POST-MORTEM

 What is no longer news is that we have a new national minimum of N70,000. per month. However, what is lost on the nation is the dollar value of the N70,000.

A little historical look back will not harm any right thinking Nigerian..

2009, the national minimum wage was N18,000, that was equal to $117.

2019, the national minimum wage was N30,000, that was equal to $98. AND

2024, the national minimum wage is N70,000, that is equal to $45.

In comparison, between 2011 and 2024 due to the dollar denomination of our consumption economy, the national minimum wage went down by 260% with other attendant consequences on our living standard.

Two beautiful things came out of the negotiation process. Nigeria being a signatory to the ILO Convention on Collective Bargaining notwithstanding, successive governments in Nigeria have always frustrated public collective bargaining and refused to respect or honoured Collective Agreements.

The gains of the national minimum wage negotiations can be summarized and tagged as Attitudinal Structuring.

Attitudinal Structuring focuses on the quality and types of relationships between the two parties.

While the Management would want the Trade Union to back-up it's demand with facts and figures, the Trade Union on the other hand, would not want to negotiate with Managers who have no powers to make decisions.

In plane terms the NLC and the TUC and the President of Nigeria have established once for all times that with public sector negotiations, there is only one person that should be negotiated with - The President. Any level of government  officials below the President is a mere buying of time by government.

On the other hand, the President has demonstrated in very clear terms that the buck truly ends on his table.

Finally, It is hoped that Trade Unions, Senior Staff Associations, NLC and TUC  will take the maximum advantage of this achievement and maintain it, thereby stop wasting time and resources negotiating with anybody below the President in any public sector collective bargaining.

Comments

  1. Wilhelm31 July 2024 at 14:02

    It is quite sad and worrisome how the Naira has lost value resulting in the 260% decline of the National Minimum Wage against the dollar.

    ReplyDelete

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