……. Directs state unions to serve government ultimatum
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has blasted the government at both the federal and state levels for their insensitivity towards the deplorable plights of the Nigerian workers while praising the courage, resilience, sacrifice and patriotism of Nigerian workers in the face of daunting challenges in the preceding year.
NLC in a statement signed by its president, Abdulwahed Omar noted that it was unfortunate that year 2014 was characterised by spate of strike actions embarked by the union which was necessitated by the failure of the government to honour agreements it voluntarily entered into with the unions.
This, NLC observed, led to avoidable disruption of services with consequences for students and vulnerable Nigerians with whom government had made its pact. It said Government’s behaviour further undermined the fragile peace and capacities in the sectors.
Labour stated that collated reports from state councils indicated that a number of state governments and some federal MDAs have not paid their workers for December as the year comes to an end.
Continuing, “Of the 30 states reporting as of the 30th of December, 11 subjected their workers to a Christmas/New Year celebration without the December salary. Three of these, Benue, Plateau and Osun owed their workers arrears of salaries ranging from 3 to 8 months! Some federal government employees in the Ministries of Education, Labour and Productivity, among others, are owed arrears of salaries ranging from 1-3 months.
“We condemn this insensitivity to the welfare of workers. Any State Governor who cannot pay workers their salaries, as and when due, has no moral justification for taking his own salary and allowances. We call on workers to massively reject these anti-worker politicians in the 2015 elections. “
“Meanwhile, we direct our State Councils in the three states mentioned above to serve appropriate ultimatums on their government to pay the arrears of salaries or face disruption of services.”
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