Members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, on Monday, cut water supply to the National Assembly Complex in compliance with the ongoing indefinite strike declared by the organised labour.
PASAN, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress, temporarily suspended electricity and water supply to the two structures accommodating the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as to other amenities within the National Assembly complex.
NLC and TUC had last Friday given a May 31, 2024 ultimatum on the new minimum wage.
On Tuesday last week, the Federal Government and organised labour held a meeting which broke down after the government and organised private sector raised their offers to N60,000.
Government added N3,000 to its initial offer of N57,000 proposed last week, taking the total figure to N60,000.
But this was dismissed by labour at the meeting.
The labour union again lowered its demand by removing N3,000 from the N497,000 it proposed last week, pegging the new proposal at N494,000.
Without reaching any consensus, both sides held another meeting on Friday, but the negotiation broke down again when the government failed to shift grounds on the N60,000 it proposed during the last meeting.
NLC then declared a nationwide indefinite strike following FG’s refusal to raise the proposed minimum wage from N60,000 and the strike commenced on Monday.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero while declaring the strike, said the meeting with the Federal Government demonstrated the unseriousness and apparent contempt with which the Nigerian state holds the demands of Nigerian workers and people.
“No governor was present and ministers absent, except the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, who doubles as a conciliator. There was none present on the side of the government with the appropriate authority to commit them to any outcome; in essence, the government abandoned the meeting. We consider this disdainful and shows a lack of commitment to a successful National Minimum Wage negotiation exercise,” he said.
