We don’t mind the minimum wage of 60,000 yen

The organized private sector accepted the federal government’s proposal for a new minimum wage of 60,000 yen.

Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Ajayi Kadri, confirmed this situation during a recent interview, emphasizing that the private sector is constrained by microeconomic, infrastructure and security challenges and that anything that goes beyond the federal government’s proposals minimum wage is currently unfeasible for this industry.

Ajayi stressed that the ongoing negotiations between the government, the private sector and workers are primarily focused on setting a minimum wage rather than a living wage, which is the lowest possible wage for every worker in the country.

He went on to highlight the significant economic challenges faced by both workers and private companies, which make it extremely difficult to meet trade union wage demands.

“First of all, negotiating the minimum wage is very difficult for everyone. From the perspective of government, workers and the organized private sector, we operate in an environment where there is widespread acceptance that macroeconomics is not right, even the global economy is experiencing many shocks and fallout from necessary government reforms.

“From the beginning of the negotiations on the trilateral minimum wage – that is, the government, workers and the organized private sector – it was obvious that we would be operating in difficult terrain.

“By the way, the organized private sector and the government have offered 60,000 yen as the minimum wage, and I think it is very important that we understand that we are talking about the minimum wage. Some people call it upfront pay. This is the amount we will pay the least to employees in the country. We are negotiating a minimum wage, not a living wage.” Ajayi during Saturday’s Channels Television show.

Ajayi disclosed that both government and the private sector face significant hurdles to meet the proposed demand for a living wage of N419,000.

He emphasized that the private sector in particular is struggling with economic difficulties and inflation, which make maintaining such high wages unfeasible.

Moreover, he emphasized that the current period is not conducive to the involvement of organized labor in discussions about the new minimum wage. Rather, they should work with other parties to strengthen the economy.

“Everyone in the tripartite – government, workers and the private sector – we all knew that we were operating in very difficult conditions. The government itself realized that it had limited payment options. The private sector is constrained by microeconomic, infrastructure and security challenges. Therefore we are forced to pay.

“Labour, for its part, is under intense pressure from its constituencies to demand higher pay as inflation has peaked and the operating environment is difficult.

“During the negotiations, we made it clear that this was not the best time to negotiate the minimum wage. It’s time for us to agree with the people behind the government and grow the economy in such a way that we bake a bigger cake and then we can share it.” added the CEO.

He urged organized labor to reconsider the decision to launch a nationwide strike, emphasizing that abandoning negotiations and resorting to strike action would not be beneficial.

He stressed the importance of organized labor reconsidering its decision to embark on a nationwide strike, stressing that the rejection of the offer of N60,000 from the government and the private sector was regrettable.

“We cannot afford to paralyze the economy when all we had to do was keep building it. “I think President Tinubu, when he became president, made it very clear that these are not going to be easy times, and I think we have to tighten our belts to sustain an economy that we know has been seriously damaged.” – said Ajayi-Kadir.

He added: “Of course, the government, for its part, must show leadership, sensitivity, and common sense and judgment, as well as a sense of the opportunities of the period in which we find ourselves. So government spending, government choices about what to do, how much to spend, the cost of governance itself – all of this needs to be discussed.

“I think the real concern is the workforce because they seem to be the ones taking the biggest hit, but we had to be able to engage, get out of the process and call a strike. I don’t think that’s what we’re going to solve this problem.”

Naija News we reported earlier that Trade unions announced a nationwide strike on Friday with no set end date following the federal government’s rejection of the N60,000 proposed minimum wage increase.

They claimed that the strike was launched after the expiration of a previous appeal to the Federal Government to finalize all talks on a new minimum wage by the end of May.