The Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) says Nigerian workers deserve living wage in order to cope with prevailing  economic realities and render quality service to the nation.

The Lagos chairman of ZLP, Adekunle Mode-Adenipebi, said this in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos.

Mr Mode-Adenipebi, who was also the party’s gubernatorial candidate in Lagos in the 2023 elections, said the government must go beyond minimum wage to living wage for workers.

He was reacting to impasse between the organised labour and the federal government on the new minimum wage for workers, which led to the strike declared by labour unions on Monday.

“There is nothing wrong for the Federal Government to provide workers living wage far above the much talked-about minimum wage, given  the inflation rate at the moment. The organised labour is right by not agreeing with the N60,000 new minimum wage proposed by the government.

“What can N60,000 buy in the market today for a young couple not to talk of a family of five? We plead with the government  to listen to workers  and meet the  demands of labour .This is the way to go for workers to breathe,” he said.

The chairman noted that there was hardship in the land  and that  the per capital income had dropped drastically.

Mr Mode-Adenipebi added, “The government must step up its game and make sure that the standard of living is elevated. We want to plead with the government  to consider not only the workers in the organiser sector  by increasing their salaries, but those who are not workers.”

The chairman, however, urged  labour  to also fight for the welfare of workers not in the organised sector.

“The Nigerian workers should go beyond the organised sector. What is the labour doing to make sure that workers in this sector also live well?

“We still have many teachers with good degree certificates collecting N40,000 and below in private schools, factories and others. It is high time the NLC and TUC considered the highly oppressed workers out of the organised sector and defend them,” he said.

He urged the government to come up with policies to alleviate the hardships faced  by  workers out of the organised sector.

Despite earlier pleas by the government  for consideration, labour unions on Monday declared an indefinite strike to push for a new national minimum wage for workers.

The strike followed a series of unsuccessful negotiations involving the the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and government representatives.

Representatives of labour had on May 28 walked out of the tripartite committee meeting on minimum wage after the government increased its offer from N57,000 to N60,000.

The government and the organised private sector had initially proposed ₦48,000, then ₦54,000 and N57,000, which were all rejected by labour.

The organised labour had also proposed ₦615,000 as new minimum wage, but later came down to ₦497,000 and then to ₦494,000, to reflect the current rising cost of living.

Meanwhile, following the federal government expression of commitment to raising the proposed minimum wage of N60,000 at a meeting with labour leaders on Monday evening, the organised has just announced suspension of the industrial action for a week.

 (NAN)