Following the walkout by Organised Labour at the negotiation of national minimum wage on Friday, the Organised Private Sector (OPS) has expressed concern with Labour’s demand and hard-line stance.
It said the demand by Labour at this time had the potential to cripple Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and push many other businesses into comatose.
Reacting to the deadlock, spokesperson for the OPS at the ongoing negotiation for a new minimum wage, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said the offer to pay N60,000, which is a 100 per cent increase in the national minimum wage, was sacrificial on the part of the OPS.
Recall that at the last meeting on Tuesday, the Federal Government had also offered N60,000 as the new minimum age. But Organised Labour rejected the offer, insisting on N494,000.
Following Tuesday’s deadlock, the Federal Government, through a letter signed by the Secretary of the Committee, Ekpo Nta, and sent to the Presidents of the two labour centres, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), extended another invitation to Organised Labour for the continuation of negotiations on Friday.
However, speaking on the walkout and subsequent declaration of indefinite strike by Organised Labour, Mr Oyerinde observed that while it was within the right of Labour to embark on any action it deems fit and necessary to achieve its objectives, organised businesses will also, within extant legislation, do all that is necessary to protect enterprise sustainability and protect jobs.
He said it was no secret that organised businesses were faced with multidimensional challenges, ranging from multiple taxes, levies and fees, recent astronomical power costs, rising interest rates and exchange rates, among others.
He noted that OPS’ position was informed by the need to arrest the ongoing job losses and continuous shut-down of businesses in Nigeria, stressing that it was important to state that jobs could only be guaranteed when businesses were alive and sustainable.
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Mr Oyerinde, who is the Director General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), said the OPS had approached the minimum wage negotiation hoping that current economic realities as it concerns the need to protect jobs and ensure sustained growth would play a key role in decision making.
He stressed that the Tripartite Committee was set up to negotiate a new national minimum wage and not a living wage. “It was also not inaugurated to adjust salaries. The minimum wage is the wage that no employer should pay below, either in the private or public sector,” he added.
Mr Oyerinde said that while it was important to note that socio-economic conditions over the years had rendered the N30,000 minimum wage inadequate, the same conditions had incapacitated many businesses, fatally affecting their sustainability and ability to pay.
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