The hit led by way of the Nigeria Labour Congress within the Federal Capital Length has entered its eleventh while, with negotiations between the labour unions and Section Council Chairmen at a standstill over the implementation timeline for the N70,000 minimal salary.
Talking to our correspondent on Tuesday, the FCT Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Native Executive Workers, Abdullahi Kabir, discoverable that the Section Council Chairmen proposed a January 2025 implementation future, which the unions unwanted, tough the fresh salary begin in December 2024.
“As I’m talking to you now, there is a discussion ongoing with the Area Council Chairmen. The Council Chairmen are appealing to the union that we should leave the issue of implementation till January. Meanwhile, the union is saying that the implementation should start in December. So that’s where we are. They are appealing that they will pay in January, and we are saying that they are going to pay in December,” Kabir mentioned.
The unions argued that delaying implementation to January would building up arrears to 5 months, while inauguration in December would let fall it to 4 months.
“The basic issue is the chairmen are appealing that they want to implement in January. We are saying let them implement it in December. Because if they implement it in January, then the arrears will have been five months. But if they implement in December, the arrears will be four months.”
This is the place we’re,” Kabir defined.
He additionally highlighted alternative grievances, together with the shortage of atypical allowances for native govt employees in comparison to FCTA personnel, discrepancies in pay, and delays in imposing the 25% CONHESS and CONMESS allowances and salary awards.
“It is not only the issue of minimum wage we are talking about in the FCT. There is the issue of peculiar allowances. The FCTA has gotten their own; we are going to the same market, we pay the same rent. A lot of things like that. There is 25% CONHESS and CONMESS. There is the wage award. All these allowances have not been given to local government workers,” Kabir mentioned.
He additional emphasized the original situation of the FCT, noting that the FCT Minister acts as a stand-in for President Bola Tinubu, who serves because the de facto Governor of the FCT.
“The FCT is different from other states. The FCT minister is standing in for President Bola Tinubu as the Governor of the FCT. President Bola Tinubu is the President of the FCT. So we are supposed to benefit from all these things,” he said.
Kabir reaffirmed that the hit would proceed till the NLC equipped a counter-directive.
“The strike has not ended until the NLC calls us and says this is the MoU or the agreement. Then we will know how to sort ourselves,” he said.
Efforts to achieve the FCT Council Chairman of the NLC, Stephen Knabayi, for feedback had been unsuccessful as he didn’t reply to telephone cries or messages as of the occasion of submitting this record.