Federal Government has postponed the resumption date of unity schools by a week, from January 7 to January 14, 2019. This is a strategic move as government sensed that the organised labour might proceed on strike over the failure to reach a compromise on the minimum wage.
“The postponement of the resumption date is to avoid embarrassment. It is also important and strategic not to keep the students in schools without having teachers to teach them, if finally the teachers join the labour to embark on the proposed strike,” a source told BusinessDay.
In addition to this, government also wants to give parents enough time to pay the school bills as the time of three days between the holiday of January 1, 2019 and resumption day is too short for parents to meet up on payment of schools bills, the source said.
Ordinarily, government move is to give room for more discussions with the labour on the continuation of efforts to resolve the lingering minimum wage crisis and avert the proposed nationwide strike billed to start today.
It is gathered that labour had since commenced the mobilisation of members and its civil society allies for what it said would be a long drawn nationwide industrial action to demand for the implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage.
It is believed that the Federal Government would likely do all within its powers to resolve the crisis, because if the labour finally embarks on strike it would likely and greatly affect the chances of the ruling government in its campaign effort to return to power this year.
It is reported that the technical committee announced by President Muhammadu Buhari would work on the fiscal issues to ensure the sustainable payment of the N30,000 minimum wage.
Minister of Labour was also reported as saying that the technical committee when constituted would also advise state governments who have been groaning under heavy wage bill on how they should source funds to meet the financial obligations arising from the new minimum wage.
But the organised labour had insisted that there was no need setting up a technical committee, instead urged the Federal Government to transmit a draft bill of the N30,000 recommended by the wage committee to the National Assembly.
