The organised labour in Kwara state Tuesday warned that it cannot guarantee that there will be no industrial unrest if its demand to the state government to constitute a negotiation committee and commence implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage is not met before December 31 deadline.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) handed down the warning at a press conference held at the Labour House, Ilorin.
Briefing newsmen, the state chairman of NLC, Alhaji Aliu Issa Ore, said the state executive council of the union had resolved that if the Kwara state government failed to implement the new minimum wage on or before December 31, 2019, the leaders could not guarantee industrial harmony in the state.
Ore who was represented at the briefing by the NLC first vice chairman , Comrade Muritala Olayinka, said the SEC of the NLC deliberated extensively on the efforts of labour leaders in the state to ensure that government constitute a negotiation team for implementation of N30,000 new minimum wage that proved abortive.
The labour unions alleged that the state government deliberately refused to set up a negotiation committee that would determine the consequential adjustments of the newly signed wage law.
They said the state government had deliberately ignored their letters and various calls for the constitution of the negotiation committee.
According to Ore, “SEC noted that some states have concluded the negotiation process and have commenced payment, while some states are presently on the negotiation table and about to complete the process for implementation.
“It is sad that Kwara state is among the few states that have refused to do anything till now despite the directive that all negotiation must be concluded on or before December 31, 2019.”
