The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has rejected another wage award, demanding a sustainable salary increase to improve workers’ purchasing power and living standards.
The congress said the demand followed the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement the 2023 wage award agreement reached with organised labour.
Nuhu Toro, TUC secretary-general, stated this in a communiqué issued on Thursday in Abuja after an emergency meeting of the congress’s National Administrative Council (NAC).
Toro said the agreement reached on October 2, 2023, provided for a wage award to cushion workers’ economic hardship until the new national minimum wage became law on July 29, 2024.
However, he said workers received an average of only three months out of the 10 months covered by the agreement.
“Under the agreement, workers received an average of only three months out of the 10 months agreed upon,” he said.
The TUC secretary-general maintained that another wage award would not provide the lasting relief needed to improve workers’ earnings and living conditions.
“The Congress is demanding a salary increase and not another wage award,” he said, reaffirming the position communicated in its October 21 statement.
Toro also stressed that the national minimum wage was a statutory floor for workers’ earnings and should not be treated as a ceiling.
He said workers’ welfare could not be improved by disregarding collective bargaining rights or undermining unions’ legitimate representation in negotiations over conditions of service.
He acknowledged the positions of the congress’s public-sector affiliates, including the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRAI), Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals.
(NUAHP) and Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC).
According to him, their positions were consistent with the TUC’s earlier stance on workers’ welfare.
Toro reaffirmed the congress’s status as a recognised trade union centre with the mandate to represent, defend and negotiate for its members, citing International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 and 98.
He said the TUC would continue constructive engagement with the government to implement resolutions reached at its October 8, 2026 meeting in Abuja.
The congress also called for the removal of barriers confronting federal and state government employees, urging practical solutions to address their challenges.
Toro urged labour leaders to focus on securing improved salaries through stakeholder engagement rather than public exchanges, adding that workers’ welfare remained non-negotiable.
