Royal Salt Company Workers Protest Over Poor Wages

Workers of Royal Salt Company Limited have embarked on a peaceful protest to register their resentment over what they described as slave labour and under payment of their daily wages by the management of the company.
The protesters who clustered at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) round about by industry road, Port Harcourt, recently displayed placards with inscriptions: We are tired of slavery; Slave labour must stop, No N1500 no work, We no longer accept N975.
Speaking to The Tide, one of the protesters who chose to be anonymous, said the company had been cheating on them by engaging their services for 12 hours each day and 12 hours at night at daily wages of N975 only.
According to him, the job engagement was hinged on casual basis and that the daily wages did not go down well with the workers who claimed they had been turned to slave labour, adding that they worked from 6 am to 6pm, while the night shift worked from 6pm to 6am which was not commensurate with the peanut of N975 the company paid as daily wages.
He said that the workers had made several attempt to persuade the company to increase the wages to at least N1,500 per day to no avail, stating that they had no other option than to protest against the injustice and under payment of wages, as well as press for their demand for N1,500 per 12 hours.
The Tide gathered that Royal Salt Company Limited management contracted out the supply of labour to a consultant who allegedly was responsible for the under payment of the casual workers, and that the management was not happy with the situation as the protest had affected the production for the day.
Efforts to speak with the management of the company and the contractor proved abortive as the security operatives prevented newsmen from entering the company.