RATTAWU Begins 3-Day Warning Strike, Monday

The leadership of the
Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), says it is set to begin a three-day nationwide warning strike from Monday.
The strike is over the decay in the sector and the union’s allegation regarding the failure of the federal and state governments to uplift the welfare of the union members.
In a statement by the union’s national leadership signed by its President, Comrade Yemisi Bamgbose and obtained by The Tide from the union’s state office in Port Harcourt, the union said it  has drawn the attention of the government on the pathetic situation in government-owned electronic media without any achievable results.
The statement stated that “the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union unanimously, agreed that the sector was in comatose. There is massive and unprecedented infrastructural decay that has culminated into abysmal signal output.”
The union added, “the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), which are supposed to be the flagship of broadcasting in Nigeria are shadows of themselves for some time now.”
The union’s statement further said, “many NTA and FRCN stations located in the state capital have ceased to operate due to equipment decay and lack of funding. At least all the NTA community stations located at senatorial districts across the country are yet to be energised and those energised have packed up.
The union said the combined effect of all these situations had greatly affected creativity and talents within the electronic sector of the media practice.
The union said members of the union were the least paid among other professions in the country, stressing that it was unfortunate that the media practitioners’ welfare was not given the deserved attention by the government.
The statement said, “a comparative analysis of the sector with others clearly showed that media workers welfare is abysmally low and ridiculous.”
The union said it was unbelievable of the treatment meted out to the NTA retirees under the contributory pension scheme. It is very sad that those that retired in NTA received low gratuity and monthly pension as compared to their counterparts in the mainstream of the civil service.
The union said these people had served the country faithfully and were dedicated and therefore deserved a better reward system.
The union said as a responsible union, it couldnot fold its arms while those who had served meritoriously without blemish were left suffering for no fault of theirs.
The union called for adequate attention to be given to the welfare of the union’s members.
The statement requested for the amendment of the constitutional provision that vests the right of collection of radio and television license fees on local governmenst without provision for distribution.

Philip Okparaji