The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Southwest Zone has rejected the seventy thousand Naira new minimum wage for workers saying it is no longer realistic going by the further increase in price of pump price of Motor Spirit by the Federal Government.
To this end, the elder statesmen called on the Labour Force especially the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress to return to negotiation table and use every means to compel the Federal Government to pay two fifty thousand Naira.
This decision is part of resolutions reached during the bi-monthly meeting of the union held in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.
Addressing Journalists during the meeting, the Public Relations Officer of the Zone, Dr. Olusegun Abatan noted that the current inflation had made mess of the seventy thousand Naira minimum wage hence the need for its review to two hundred and fifty thousand Naira.
According to him, the Federal Government was not sincere as it tricked the Labour leaders to accept the seventy thousand Naira on the account that it won’t increase the pump price only to do so even when the seventy thousand Naira has not been implemented.
He said:”We found out that before the N70,000 was even implemented, the federal government had gone ahead to increase the price of petrol, this is unfair.
“The two labour centers that went for the negotiation, went there blindfolded, they went there as naive, they forgot that when you are dining with the devil, your spoon must be very long, and when you are dining with politicians, your spoon must be longer than the spoon you want to use to dine with the devil.
“The Federal Government took advantage of the naivety and inexperience of Comrade Ajairo and Osite by tricking them to accept N70,000 and that the government will not increase fuel price.
“We the Southwest pensioners are rejecting the N70,000 minimum wage that Labour has negotiated, and we advise that Labour should go back to the negotiating table and insist on the N250,000 they initially wanted.
“The other issue we discussed very well is the implementation of local government autonomy, and we arrived at the following decision: that the Nigeria Union of Pensioners wholeheartedly supports local government autonomy, but with one condition.
“That in whatever agreement, the salaries of local government workers should not be tampered with; the salaries of working teachers should also go up, the salaries of other local government workers should also increase, and the salaries of our chiefs and Obas should be taken care of as first-line charges.
“After that, the Chairmen can do whatever they want with the remaining money.”
The pensioners however commended the Southwest Governors for the recent improvement in the payment of outstanding benefits of the pensioners in their respective states.
