The tripartite minimum wage negotiation meeting involving Organised Labour, the federal and state governments, and the Organized Private Sector, OPS, yesterday ended in deadlock, following Labour’s dismissal of the government’s N54,000 offer as expected.
Labour leaders also lamented the absence of state governors in the meeting to present their offers, as their representatives said they had no mandate.
However, Vanguard gathered that the meeting will reconvene today by 4 pm.
According to sources, labour leaders insisted that the Federal Government has not made an offer and that it appears the government is not serious.
According to Labour, the N54,000 offer falls below the N77,000 salary its workers are earning.
Before the meeting adjourned for today, it was agreed that governors must attend to make presentations.
Confirming the development, a member of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, lamented the absence of six governors who represent the six geopolitical zones, stressing that it would not augur well if any agreement was reached without the governors.
Professor Ndubuaku reiterated the May 31 deadline labour had given to the government to conclude negotiations.
He said: “It took them (the government team) some time and they were passing the buck on who would present the offer. It was then the Minister of Labour who now said they had shifted ground to N54,000.
‘N54,000 is wage reduction’