The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is calling on the Federal Government to immediately fix the new minimum wage, just as the union asked government to review taxes on some critical imported goods and directed Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service to allow importation of essential food items into the country as part of measures to tackle the rising cost of living in the country caused by the removal of fuel subsidy
The TUC President, Festus Osifo at press conference on Monday in Abuja ahead of the Tuesday nation-wide protest being organized by the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC over the high cost of living, said that the review of the current N30,000 minimum wage would reduce the hardship being experienced by workers in the country
Osifo whose union is not joining the nation-wide protest by NLC, is worried that the falling value of the naira against the dollar in the FX market has further eroded the value of the minimum wage.
The TUC leadership is thus calling for the passage and implementation of a new minimum wage law that reflects the current economic realities.
According to him, the Federal Government’s economic team should work towards a more realistic rate of the naira to dollar, which they pegged between N500 and N800 to the dollar.
The union also recommended a clamping down on currency speculators, especially those online, who they say have made remittances from abroad drop.
They further called for the rolling out of products by the Port Harcourt Refinery by the end of Q1 2024.
The TUC chief blamed insecurity for the current rise in the cost of foodstuff, noting that many farmers have not gone to their farms owing to that.
There have been protests and meetings between labour unions and authorities to roll out measures to ease the hardship,
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