The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun has stated that the Federal Government, labour unions and the Organised Private Sector should not wait till the expiration of the five-year validity period of minimum wage before negotiating a new living wage.
His statement is coming as the Organised Labour embarks on a nationwide strike over demand for a new minimum wage for workers in the country.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, Edun stated that the wage negotiation process is a very important one.
He noted that the complex and difficult process was ongoing, but expressed hope that a favourable compromise would be reached.
The minister said, “It is difficult because the worker deserves his wage and given what is going on, they deserve a change and in fact, by law, every five years, and may be, we shouldn’t have to wait five years everytime to set a new wage scale. The fact is that by law, it is a minimum wage.
“So, you are not setting a wage for Federal Government workers, for example. In a Federation, you are setting a minimum figure that states must pay, that local governments must pay, that the private sector must pay, that small businesses must pay.
“It is a fixed figure, not a scale. So, there are elements of how we have set the minimum wage in the past, particularly what we called the consequential adjustment, which, given what Labour is asking today, will be unaffordable across the board.
“We have to focus on the fact that once it is enshrined in law, everybody that falls into the category of having to pay the minimum wage must pay it. Therefore, the affordability has to be taken into account.
“We probably have to also take into account the fact that there are other ways of supporting cost of living of workers other than wage scale.”
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