1st September, 2011
The Osun chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has hailed government’s approval of N19,001 minimum wage for workers, who have yet to call off their strike.
The party in a statement signed by Mr Semiu Okanlawon, the state Director, Bureau of Information and Strategy, on Wednesday in Osogbo, described the approval as commendable.
Chief Adelowo Adebiyi, state party chairman in the statement said Gov. Rauf Aregbesola’s action had demonstrated his commitment to the welfare of workers.
He pointed out that the N19,001 minimum wage it approved exceeded the N18,000
prescribed by the minimum wage law.
The party called on labour leaders in the state to show fairness and commitment to duty by returning to work, after the decision to pay the new minimum wage.
According to him, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is such a paltry sum that almost all allocations from the federation account go into paying salaries.
“That compels the governor and his team to look for creative ways of embarking on development projects that would benefit the people,†the statement stated.
However, Mr Saka Adesiyan, the state NLC Chairman, maintained that the government had yet to address the demand of the workers.
Adesiyan told NAN that workers would not accept anything from government short of the full implementation of the new minimum wage.
“Workers will remain on strike until the state government deems it fit to address the issue,†he added.
NAN further reports that the modality for paying the approved wage favours workers from levels 01 to 07 who are to get full pay.
Other workers from levels 08-17 on the implementation table are to be paid on a pro-rata basis which labour has rejected.