Jubilation As Ogun Workers Get N30,500 Minimum Wage - EDU-BIZNEWS

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Sunday, November 1, 2020

Jubilation As Ogun Workers Get N30,500 Minimum Wage

.          Gov.Dapo Abiodun.

There is jubilation among workers on payroll of the Ogun State Government as they started receiving Alert reflecting the new minimum wage of N30, 500 and consequential adjustment for various grade levels seven to 17.

Cross section of workers from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies confirmed the payment of the new salary structure to Edu-Biznews on Saturday in Abeokuta, the state capital.

Some of the Civil Servants said they started receiving Bank Alert from Friday, October 30 while other got the Alert for the new salary increment on Saturday, October 31.

Governor Dapo Abiodun had earlier in October, also met with the leadership of the organised labour led by its Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) State Chairman, Comrade Emmanuel Bankole where they received the commitment of the government to pay the new salary structure as agreed last September 18 meeting.

Edu-Biznews recalled that both the State Government and Organised Labour had on February 5 agreed on the payment of N30,500 minimum wage for workers in the state, which is above the N30,000 national minimum wage

The payment of the new salary structure is expected to commence from 1 January, 2020.

They even signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the agreement reached between the representatives of Organised Labour which comprised; Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress ( TUC) and the then Head of Service, Amope Chokor, who led government delegation.

Both parties also agreed on the Consequential Adjustment of 27 percent for grade level 07, GL 08 (20%), GL 09 (19%), GL 10 to 14 (15%) and GL 15 to 17 (14%).

But the State Government failed to implement the agreement, blaming it on the Coronavirus pandemic which seriously affected the nation's economy and the government revenue drive. 

For seven months after waiting endlessly for the government to implement new national minimum wage as agreed earlier in February, the organised labour on September 16 embarked on a Seven-Day warning strike to compel government to pay the salary increment.

The labour leaders later suspended their strike  on the third day  of the industrial action on September 18 , following fresh agreement with the government on the immediate payment of the new national minimum as from October , 2020.

The Chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Emmanuel Bankole  said the government in a Memoranda of Understanding with the labour  also agreed to be paying N500m on a quarterly basis starting from January 2021 to defray the accumulated gratuities to the affected Pensioners.

Bankole said the government also pledged to immediately commence the process of conducting 2018-2020 promotion arrears.

The labour leader revealed that government also agreed to step down the controversial Pension Reforms Act 2020 said to have been passed by the House of Assembly without adequate inputs from the labour while a committee would be set up to fashion out the best pension system for the state.

He said while the government henceforth promised payment of gross salaries with all the deductions, labour and the government also agreed that all other requests of the workers would be subject of reviews slated for March 2021.

Secretary to the State Government, Mr.Tokubo Talabi led the government team on September 18 meeting where the agreement was reached for the payment of the new minimum wage of N30,500 in the  state.

Others  at the meeting  were the leadership of the organised labour comprising of the NLC led by Comrade Emmanuel Bankole, Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by its acting Chairman, Comrade Akeem Lasisi and Chairman of Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) Comr Olanrewaju Folorunsho among other labour leaders in the state.

The summary of these demands by labour according to the state government was the immediate disbursement of about N32.5bn and additional N2bn monthly on top of the current wage bill.

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