Minimum wage: Kwara workers give Gov AbdulRazaq two-week ultimatum

The organized labour in Kwara State has issued two weeks ultimatum to the state government to address issues on the payment of new minimum wage for workers in the state.

The labour made this known in a statement signed by the state Acting Chairman of Trade Union Congress, Comrade Joseph Tunde on Tuesday.

The labour leader lamented that despite workers’ support and patients, the government resorted to segregation payment “without recourse to natural Justice and Pareto optimality concept”.

The statement said, “The government that promised to shift grounds on the issue of minimum wage and directed the state Head of Service to meet with labour to resolve the gray area on the payment of minimum wage for weeks now has failed to initiate any meeting with organized labour in the state for any discussion.

“The purported payment of minimum wage for GL 01-06 workers cannot be seen in that regard because there was no circular to back it up.

”In line with best practice in the world, it is mandatory for establishment offices to issue a circular for government directives to be implemented in a public service. No agreement was reached after 14 months of unconcluded negotiations as a result of insensitivity of the government.

The statement added that this shows the level of insincerity of the government on the issue of minimum wage in the state. As we speak, the rate of inflation and the exchange rate in the country can best be described as a pocket dryer which makes life unbearable for the workers.

It further reads, “This agitation is very necessary considering the level of revenue and allocation into the state. Payment of salary today take very meager percentage of the allocation while other funds accrue to the state monthly can conveniently take care of projects and other assignments of governance in the state.

“While acknowledging the works done so far, it is imperative to see the management and the maintenance of the engine room of the service (workers) as priority for the growth and development of the state, economy and the people in general.

“We want to see the sincerity of purpose, commitment and dedication of the government to the welfare of the workers and the good people of the state within two weeks on this minimum wage issue to be finally resolved.”

NLC had earlier this month rejected the partial implementation of the minimum wage for level 1 to 6 officers by the state government, saying such violated extant law with the implementation carried out without the signed agreement of the labour movement.

 The labour leaders had walked out of meeting with govt officials

On February 26, a meeting between the Kwara State Government and the organised labour on the implementation of minimum wage ended in disarray as the labour leaders walked out of the parley in anger.

The dialogue, which was meant to resolve pending issues on the implementation of minimum wage, ended abruptly barely 10 minutes after it commenced at the Ministry of Finance in Ilorin, the state capital.

THE INFORMANT247 gathered that the meeting, believed to be an advance of Governor AbdulRazaq’s publicized parley with the organized labour unions – announced by his spokesperson Rafiu Ajakaye – which would later be abruptly canceled with no known reason, started with the labour leaders demanding the government to withdraw a court case instituted against them in Akure.

The government, for their part, pointed out that they could only pay the new wage, with its consequential arrangements, for workers on grade level 1 to 6, a proposal immediately rejected by the labour representatives.

Official of NLC, who declined to be identified, said they were angered by the government’s further refusal to provide details of the consequential adjustment component of the minimum wage for workers on grade level 1 to 6, despite stating, at the start of the meeting, that they have the draft.

“We believe they are not ready for negotiation yet, so we simply walked out,” the official said.

The state government and labour unions had held several meetings in recent past on the issue of consequential arrangements for Local Government workers, which all ended in deadlock, before and after late last year’s strike.

‘No allocation for minimum wage in 2021 budget yet’

THE INFORMANT247 findings had revealed that the State Government is yet to earmark any budgetary allocation yet for the new wages for workers which raise doubt about its readiness for the implementation.

Governor AbdulRazaq, while presenting the 2021 budget before the State Assembly late last year, said that his administration prioritised the implementation of the new minimum wage.

However, as contained in the 2021 appropriation law, the ‘personnel cost’ for 2019 was N13.3bn, while that of 2020 as of September was N10.04bn excluding October, November and December. With N14.5bn for 2021, this showed that the state is yet to make any allocation for a new national wage.

Responding to a question by THE INFORMANT247 on this, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, pointed out that there is N1.2bn in excess of the 2020 actual figure – in the 2021 budget.

“N1.2bn will commence minimum wage when the new salary table is signed,” he said, “Resignation and retirement of workers will also free up some funds. If there are shortfalls, the Ministry of Finance and Planning will sort out the differences as the law permits.”