Labour declares indefinite strike in Kogi over unpaid salaries

The Kogi State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trace Union Congress (TUC) had directed their members to embark on indefinite strike.

This followed the state government’s failure to meet the demands of the labour unions.

This is coming just as the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) also issued a seven-day ultimatum within which they would also embark on indefinite strike if government fails to meet with their demands.

The NLC, TUC and the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council (PSJNC) rose from a joint session to declare the industrial action last Friday.

The demands of labour include full payment of all salary arrears owed workers, stoppage of the clock-in-clock-out, which is aimed at casualising workers and discontinuation of the contributory pensions scheme.

NLC Chairman, Onuh Edoka, said the strike was the only lifeline left for workers in the state to negotiate their survival with the government.

He urged the workers to stay at home for as long as it would take state government to pay outstanding salary arrears owed their members.

“This is because, never in the history of our state has the civil servants recorded the hunger induced deaths among workers in recent times, not to talk of the trauma, anguish, pains, sickness, penury, truncation of children’s education, huge unsettled house rents and medical bills, among others that workers and pensioners are experiencing.

“Besides, the government’s white paper on the screening exercise currently being implemented is aimed at achieving massive retrenchment of workers, especially those in the directorate cadre and civil servants that have five years and below to retire,” he stated.

He said the exercise has already started with the permanent secretaries, adding that in the light of the foregoing their belief in the struggle was non-negotiable.

Edoka, therefore, urged workers to ignore all threats, intimidation and blackmail from government quarters insisting that the deeds of dictators could only be checked by courage, perseverance and resoluteness.

He, however, urged workers to be law abiding and prayerful.