The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has denied negotiating the ₦40,000 consequential adjustment granted to Federal Government workers following the implementation of the ₦70,000 national minimum wage.
The labour centre said the adjustment was negotiated by public sector unions and not the NLC, describing claims that it secured the across-the-board salary increase as false and misleading.
In a statement signed by its Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, the congress explained that its role in the minimum wage process was limited to negotiating the national wage through a tripartite arrangement involving organised labour, the government and employers.
It said consequential adjustments to existing salary structures were handled separately by unions representing workers in their respective sectors.
“The claim that the NLC was responsible for negotiating the ₦40,000 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,” Upah said.
Consequential adjustment involves reviewing existing salary structures following an increase in the national minimum wage to maintain appropriate differences in earnings across various grade levels.
The NLC identified the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, comprising government representatives and about eight trade unions, as the body responsible for negotiating the implementation of minimum wage agreements and consequential adjustments for Federal Government workers.
It explained that similar arrangements exist at the state level, where unions negotiate directly with their respective governments.
For the private sector, the congress said industrial unions negotiate with employers’ associations based on the structure and circumstances of their industries.
It cited the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers and the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees as an example of sector-specific collective bargaining.
The NLC maintained that although it represents workers across the public and private sectors, it does not directly negotiate consequential adjustments for individual sectors.
“Throughout the history of the national minimum wage setting exercise, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress has never sat down to negotiate consequential adjustment with neither the government nor the organised private sector employers,” the statement added.
The clarification comes amid discussions surrounding the implementation of the ₦70,000 national minimum wage, which President Bola Tinubu approved in July 2024 following negotiations involving the Federal Government, organised labour and employers.
The congress said distinguishing between national minimum wage negotiations and consequential adjustments was important as discussions over a new national minimum wage approached.
It warned that misinformation could create divisions within the labour movement and shift accountability away from the institutions responsible for negotiating workers’ salaries.
The NLC urged workers to hold the relevant institutions accountable for the outcomes of consequential adjustment negotiations, adding that it would continue pushing for a new national minimum wage that approximates a living wage.
