From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
An industrial action is looking in the Cross River State civil service as negotiations for a new minimum wage breaks down.
This follows the decision of members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC to walk away from a scheduled meeting with state government officials.
During a meeting staged on Monday, 18th November 2024 at the office of the State Head of Service Innocent Eteng, labour leaders staged a walk out over what they described as delay tactics on the part of government representatives at the committee.
The Labour leaders alleged that at the first meeting held last week, there was no headway as attempt were made by government to postpone the meeting till January 2025.
The Labour Unions, therefore, say they will not guarantee industrial harmony from Wednesday if the government failed to concretise plans to implement the new national minimum wage of N70,000.
As at press time today, the labour leaders in the state are meeting and it’s unclear if they will go ahead with their threat to down tools in the state.
However, the Special Adviser to the Cross River State governor on Labour Matters Clarkson Otu said it will be too hasty to call out workers in the state for an industrial action.
He told our correspondent that another date has been fixed for another meeting over the implementation of the new wage.
“It’s not enough to say negotiations have broken down because even at the national level they stage a walk out and later come back to meet.
” I think the intention is to notify Congress and possibly give another ultimatum but it’s hasty to convene congress in the midst of a negotiation.
“Minimum wage is a law and the state is bound to implement it but there has to be a template agreed by all parties which is consistent with available resources”, he said.