The Organised Labour in Kogi has tasked the state government to ensure fair deal in the ongoing dialogue with labour over percentage payment of April, 2020 salary due to paucity of funds.
Onu Edoka, Chairman of the State chapter of Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, made the call on behalf of the NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, during the 2020 workers day celebration in Lokoja on Friday.
The labour leader said: “We have a challenge on our hands over April 2020 salary, which we are currently discussing and we do hope that the workers will not be shortchanged in any form.
“We pray for fair deal from the state government. However, organised labour will henceforth not entertain any justification for salary reduction, especially at local government and Primary School levels,” he said.
Mr Edoka regretted that workers could not celebrate this year’s May Day with fanfare as a result of COVID-19, which compelled them to make painful sacrifices to preserve their health.
He said with the theme of this year’s celebration, “60 years of Nationhood: Insecurity, Wage, Poverty and the Future Of Work in Nigeria,” all the issues enumerated in the theme were critical and could define “our political economic and welfare trajectories as a people.
“But our concern today is how to survive COVID-19 and build a political economy that will keep our country out of imminent recession,” he said.
The organised labour also appealed to the state government to consider the payment of a 30 per cent balance of their August to December 2017 salaries and other salary arrears, annual increments, promotion cash backing and leave bonuses, all of which were last implemented about eight years ago.
The union leader also called for immediate implementation of the N30,000 New Minimum Wage approved for all workers since April, last year, by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and commended the state government for setting up the minimum wage committee.
Mr Edoka, however, regretted that the time given the committee for its assignment had since elapsed saying, “We, therefore, use this medium to call on the Dr Folashade AyoAde led 17-man committee to expedite action on its assignment.
He said the issues emanating from the screening exercise still persisted, and there were still several civil servants whose careers had been truncated as a result of the exercise, especially at the local government and primary school levels.
He appealed to the governor to reconsider other cases that still lingered.
“For instance, the case of stale Statement of Results and Certificates; their transcripts can be used for authenticate the result,” he said.
The labour leader also called on the governor to lift the embargo on trade union activities in the state’s tertiary institutions to create room for robust industrial relations practice.
Mr Edoka also drew the attention of officials of state government to the urgent need for fresh recruitments into the core Ministries and Secondary School Sector.
“There’s no denying the fact that most offices and secondary schools are getting empty as a result of death and retirement of civil servants, these category of workers need to be replaced urgently before their colleagues leave service,” he added.
NAN
