The National Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have called off their nationwide strike for five days following a meeting with the federal government on Monday.  

This is according to a report by Channel TV on Tuesday, confirming the suspension of the strike.  

The organized labour met on Tuesday after their submission to the federal government.  

Nairametrics had earlier reported a meeting between labour leaders and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume, along with other government officials.  

The meeting, held on Monday, concluded with a resolution affirming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to establishing a new minimum wage that exceeds N60,000. 

They equally resolved that the Tripartite Committee would meet every day for the next one week to arrive at an agreeable National Minimum Wage. 

With this development, every government and private office are expected to reopen and function as usual. 

The agreement stated: “The President of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is committed to establishing a National Minimum Wage higher than N60,000; and the Tripartite Committee will convene daily for the next week to finalise an agreeable National Minimum Wage.” 

The organised labour also agreed to “immediately hold meetings of its organs to consider this new offer, and no worker would face victimisation as a consequence of participating in the industrial action.

Backstory  

The National Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) declared an indefinite strike on Monday, virtually shutting down all economic activities in the country.  

The organized labour decided to embark on industrial action after the negotiations between them and the government over the minimum wage of workers came to an impasse. 

The union claimed that a new minimum wage is long overdue, and due to the incessant soaring of the price of goods and services, the government should upwardly review the wages of workers. 

Accordingly, NLC and TUC initially proposed a new wage of N615,000 to the federal government. However, after many negotiations and deliberations, the union settled for the sum of N419,000. 

On its part, however, the government insisted on paying the sum of N60,000, adding that the proposed amount from the labour union is unsustainable.