Ekiti workers begin indefinite strike Salaries ’ll be paid within 48 hrs —Fayemi Workers in the Ekiti State employ have commenced an indefinite strike to press for the payment of their outstanding salaries and allowances owed by the outgoing governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi. The labour unions in the state, under the leadership of Joint Negotiating Council, also lambasted the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state over what it said was its “lackadaisical attitude to the plight of the suffering workers.” Speaking with newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Thursday, the JNC chairman, Mr Oladipupo Johnson, said “the August and September salaries, as well as the June and July deductions have not been paid as promised by Governor Fayemi,” describing this as “the highest point of insensitivity.” The body said “the strike action became imperative, following alleged uncaring attitude displayed by Governor Fayemi towards the welfare of Ekiti workers,” saying “it is unfortunate to note that in spite of the pronouncement and promises from top government functionaries, there seem to be no light at the end of the tunnel.” The JNC said: “Sequel to the following, the workers of the public service had met and directed that no worker should come to work today, October 2, 2014 and this subsists until all conditions are met. And any worker who refuses to obey this simple directive does so at his or her own risk since the leaders would not take responsibility for anything to happens.” In his reaction, Governor Fayemi promised that he had instructed the Head of Service, Mr. Bunmi Famosaya to meet with the leadership of JNC and relay to them that the salaries will be paid within 48 hours. Fayemi, who responded through the Information Commissioner, Mr Tayo Ekundayo, said “Ekiti has been paying as and when due before the present situation and we have a template by which we used to meet up. We used to take facilities from banks to pay salary before the arrival of the state’s allocations. “But unfortunately, because of the transition, opposition went to stop the banks and we have explained the situation to union leaders. “We expect the workers to reciprocate the gesture by calling off the strike and report to work immediately in the interest of the state,” Fayemi advised. The success of the strike notwithstanding, the JNC team still sent round the state secretariat and other government offices to picket the few workers that reported for duty. Oladipupo said the unions had been in dialogue with the government in the last three months but said the matter became deadlocked following what he said was “the governor’s unwillingness to pay after receiving two allocations without looking in the workers’ way.” He said: “We don’t want to stay back and allow our people to be dying on the streets because we are gradually becoming beggars. The government has not paid salaries in the last three months. They are owing full salaries for August and September and 60 per cent deductions in the June and July salaries. And going by evidence we had, the governor had collected two allocations without remembering that these salaries should be paid.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:45:16 +0000
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