Anambra Judiciary Workers Issue Strike Threat

The Anambra State chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), has threatened to embark on strike over the non-implementation of the new Consolidated Judiciary Salary Structure (CONJUSS) by the government.
The chairman of JUSUN in the state, Mr Basil Mbanefo, said in Awka on Tuesday that the authorities should be blamed for the proposed industrial action.
Mbanefo said the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union had issued a 14-day ultimatum from October 5, to states that had not complied with the payment of the new salary scale.
“A copy of the NEC communiqué was made available to the Chief Judge of the state, the Executive Secretary, Judiciary Service Commission (JSC), the Registrar of the High Court, President of Customary Court of Appeal and the five branches of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in the state,” he said.
The judicial workers warned that “failure to comply with the directive, judiciary workers would have no alternative than to resume the suspended strike at the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum.”
Mbanefo said the new salary scale was approved in February by a negotiating panel.
He regretted that nothing was heard about the agreement reached during the strike in January when NBA intervened in the dispute.
“The NBA met with the chief judge when they agreed to set up a committee to harmonise the scheme of service for the workers.
“We are mobilising our members, and we appeal to all to gear up and be ready for whatever directive the NEC would give”, he said.
The Chief Registrar of the Anambra High Court, Mr Mike Okonkwo, said he received a copy of the communiqué but regretted that the government had not taken action.
“They served the chief judge a copy of the NEC communiqué and he directed me to send a copy to the secretary of the state government for necessary action.
“We are waiting for response from the government,” he added.