The approval, which was made at the weekend after series of meetings between the leadership of the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the state government, also included payment of the balance of August salary this month.
Earlier, the NLC had demanded for the implementation of the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2011 in the state through a letter dated July 21, a demand which compelled the state government to constitute a technical committee to work out modalities for implementation.
At a meeting of the state government, NLC, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) which was witnessed by a controller of Labour in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Alhaji Musa Mohammed, an agreement was signed by all the parties to commence the implementation of the N18,229 minimum wage.
Meanwhile, Yobe State workers began strike on Tuesday as the state NLC chairman, Comrade Lawan Ibrahim, declared that the workers had rejected the approval and implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage by the state government, on the ground that not all the workers would benefit from the wage increase.
The rejection of the minimum wage was made known in Damaturu on Tuesday at a news conference .
Comrade Ibrahim said, “we demanded for the approved release of N500 million by Yobe State government to fully implement the N18,000 minimum wage but the technical committee on the minimum wage, said government can only afford N300 million.”
But the Yobe State Head of Service, Alhaji Dauda Yahaya, has urged the striking workers to rescind their decision.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
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