Minimum Wage: Enugu Workers Refuse To End Strike

In spite of the Enugu State Government’s threat of  “no work no pay”, workers in the state had continued with the strike, which they started on Aug. 9.

Our reports that last Thursday, the state secretariat, institutions and government offices still remained under lock and key.

The state-owned radio and television stations were off air, while the various courts were also shut, as the workers were nowhere in sight.

The workers on Aug. 9, during a rally, compelled their labour leaders to call for the warning strike.

When one of the labour leaders urged for a one-week ultimatum before the warning strike, the leader was almost lynched by angry workers, who wanted the strike to commence immediately.

They had insisted that government should agree to pay the N18,000 minimum wage or they would proceed on an indefinite strike.

Government had, on Aug. 10, declared the ongoing strike illegal and said that the workers did not act within the labour laws by refusing to issue any notice before embarking on the industrial action.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr Chuks Ugwoke, while briefing newsmen on the situation Thursday, in Enugu, also said government would have no choice, but to apply the “no work, no pay” rule.

He said that it was most regrettable that labour chose to blackmail government by embarking on strike and creating erroneous impression that government was unwilling to implement the minimum wage.

“Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, the reverse is the case.”

“Government has complied with the law and also upwardly adjusted salaries of all cadres of workers,’’ Ugwoke said. The commissioner then appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the workers to call off the strike and return to work, while government implemented the wage as prescribed by the law.