The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, has said that unrealistic demand from senior civil servants is delaying the implementation of the new Minimum Wage.
But in a quick response, the Joint National Public Negotiation Council, which is representing workers in the negotiation, said government introduced a new strategy to halt negotiation with the introduction of new figures to come up with its own template.
Labour added that the new template the Federal Government was proposing to implement the new minimum wage would impoverish workers.
Negotiation between the Federal Government and the Joint National Public Negotiation Council broke down two weeks ago because of differences in percentage increase in the salaries of workers.
While the Federal Government’s representatives in the technical committee set up to negotiate the consequential increase had proposed 9.5 per cent salary increase for workers on Grade Level 07 to Level 14 and five per cent increase for employees on Grade Level 15 to 17, the labour representatives are demanding 30 per cent salary increase for workers on Grade Level seven to 14 and 25 per cent for workers on Grade Level 15 to 17.
While speaking with journalists at the opening of a retreat on 2017-2020 federal civil service strategy and implementation plan organised by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in Abuja on Monday, Oyo-Ita said the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to the implementation of the new minimum wage.
She called on labour to review its demands.
She said, “President Buhari is keen on the implementation of the new minimum wage and that is why the committee set up on the consequential adjustment arising from the new minimum wage has been meeting unions within the labour union and the public service to arrive at a consequential adjustment.
“There were a few not very realistic demands from the unions and so as not to continue delaying the implementation of the well-thought-out and clear policy of the President, we have to go ahead and seek his approval for the implementation while we continue discussion on the consequential adjustment.”
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