The organised Labour in Cross River says they will not guarantee industrial harmony starting Wednesday if the government fails to concretise plans to implement the N70,000 national minimum wage.

The labour unions made their stand known after staging a walkout at a scheduled meeting with the Joint Public Service Negotiating and Implementation Committee on the new wage on Monday in Calabar.

The committee, chaired by the State Head of Service, Innocent Eteng, also has representatives of the various labour unions, including the Trade Union Congress and the Nigeria Labour Congress.

TUC chair in Cross River Monday Ogbodum said the government appeared not committed to the implementation of the new wage.

Mr Ogbodum noted that labour’s position had earlier forced the government to set up the committee.

“From the look of things, this same committee seems not ready for anything. We have heard from the grapevine that the government is not looking at commencing implementation until January 2025,” he said.

The TUC state chairman said that the labour unions received a directive from their national leadership that implementing the new wage begins in October.

“Our worry is that the Cross River governor was a member of this committee that gave birth to the new wage. He was the South-South representative in that committee, and he is the one lagging behind while other states have already made pronouncements on this new wage for the workers,” he said.

Mr Ogbodum disclosed that the governor had promised the workers that he would implement whatever was agreed upon.

Also speaking, the chairman of NLC in Cross River, Gregory Olayi, said that labour staged a walkout because the government representative in the committee appeared not serious.

He said that aside from the fact that the government had not put anything on the table, the government representative seemed not to be acting on the governor’s mandate.

“We had on Thursday given them (the government) a seven-day ultimatum, which expires Monday at midnight. We will be meeting with all the organs, and whatever decision is taken, we will all see to it after the meeting on Tuesday,” said Mr Olayi.

The Cross River government did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

(NAN)