Controversy: We didn’t negotiate N40,000 pay adjustment for federal workers — NLC

…Explains wage increase negotiation done by public sector unions

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has distanced itself from the negotiation of the N40,000 consequential adjustment granted to federal workers, insisting that the responsibility rested solely with the leadership of public sector unions and not the national labour centre.

The Congress said the widespread attribution of the N40,000 across-the-board addition to its leadership was misleading, accusing unnamed opponents of the trade union movement of deliberately distorting the collective bargaining process to misinform Nigerian workers and the general public.

In a statement yesterday by its Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, the NLC explained that while it negotiates the national minimum wage through a tripartite arrangement involving government and employers, consequential adjustments are negotiated separately by unions in their respective sectors.

The statement reads: “The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has observed with grave concern the deliberate spread of falsehood and mischievous misinformation by certain opponents of the trade union movement and enemies of the Nigerian working class regarding the 2024 national minimum wage setting exercise and the consequential adjustment process. This is issued to educate the public, set the records straight, and expose the ignorance and mischief of those who seek to mislead Nigerian workers and the masses.

“For the purpose of clarity, we state that the national minimum wage is set through a tripartite process involving the labour movement, the government, and employers’ representatives. The NLC’s mandate at this stage is clear and unambiguous: to negotiate the national minimum wage; the primary and basic floor below which no worker should be paid. This is the foundational wage upon which all other wage structures are built.

“Once the national minimum wage has been agreed upon through the tripartite process, the responsibility for negotiating consequential adjustments; the process of aligning existing wage structures with the new minimum wage, and falling to the respective sectors. This is a fundamental principle of collective bargaining that we cannot belabour here.

“In the public sector, the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), comprising governmentt representatives and approximately eight trade unions with their national leadership, sit with the federal government to negotiate implementation and consequential adjustments. Its state-level counterparts negotiate with state governments. In the private sector, industrial unions negotiate individually with employers’ associations according to the dynamics of their respective sectors. “For example, the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) negotiates with the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) on how the national minimum wage will be applied in the food and beverage sector. This pattern applies across all sectors.

“The NLC represents both the private and public sectors. However, it is critically important to understand that the NLC does not sit at the table to negotiate consequential adjustments in the various sectors. “The leadership of the unions in these sectors bears sole responsibility for the outcomes of consequential adjustments in their respective sectors.

“Therefore, the claim that the NLC was responsible for negotiating the N40,000 across-the-board addition as consequential adjustment for federal workers is not only false but is a deliberate distortion of the collective bargaining framework in Nigeria.
“The N40,000 outcome was the sole responsibility of the leadership of the unions in the public sector.

“Any person who attributes the outcome of consequential adjustments to the NLC is either naïve, plainly ignorant, or involved in propagating outright mischief to mislead Nigerian workers and the masses. Such a person is so pathetically ignorant that they are not fit to hold any leadership position in any union, as they lack understanding of the basic structures and dynamics of collective bargaining in Nigeria because the collective bargaining framework in Nigeria is not only statutory but has enjoyed decades of flavour and traditions.

“It should be noted that throughout the history of the national minimum wage setting exercise, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour congress (NLC) has never sat down to negotiate Consequential adjustment with neither the government nor the organised private sector employers. “The JPSNC has always had that responsibility for the public sector, while the JNIC’s of the diverse industrial setors have also done the same for the private sector.

“We believe that this moment demands clarity and deep consciousness. The enemies of the working class are attempting to sow confusion and division within our ranks by shifting blame and obscuring the true loci of responsibility as we begin the negotiation of a new national minimum wage.

“The NLC stands firmly with the Nigerian working class and masses, and we will not allow our movement to be misrepresented by those who serve the interests of capital and exploitation.

“The new national minimum wage is on the verge of being negotiated. This is a critical moment for Nigerian workers and the masses to take necessary steps to hold specific institutions accountable for their specific expectations.

“The NLC will do its best to ensure that the outcome of this forthcoming exercise continues to serve Nigerian workers and masses and approximates a living wage. We will put adequate measures in place to ensure that consequential adjustment exercises are done by diverse institutions in creative ways for the benefit of Nigerian workers.”