Business
Edo Workers May Resume Suspended Strike
The Nigerian Labour Con
gress (NLC), Edo Chapter, last Monday, said it would resume its suspended strike on February 5, if government fails to meet its outstanding demands.
The chapter’s chairman, Mr Emma Ademokun, disclosed this to newsmen in Benin.
He listed the two demands to include the sack of Maj. Lawrence Oloye (rtd), the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities, and the issue of salary relativity.
Ademokun said organised labour was unhappy with the attitude of the state government over Oloye, as he allegedly harassed and assaulted labour leaders who were monitoring the strike at the state secretariat in December 2013.
He said, “Oloye has become a stigma and no worker is ready to work with him and now, we don’t know what is happening between the governor and Oloye.
“Our demand is that Oloye must be dropped.”
“The governor has met us twice and said he did not use Oloye to harass us and he apologised.
“But we demand and still insist that for there to be peace, he must drop Oloye.”
He said the December 2013 strike was suspended, following the intervention of some prominent persons in the state.
According to him, “we actually suspended the strike because the Oba (of Benin) appealed to us.
“We did assure our members that by the first week of February 2014, we shall resume the strike.”
Ademokun said another reason for resuming the strike is the government’s failure to rectify the relativity issue.
He added that currently, there is a wider salary gap between a director and a Permanent Secretary in the public service.
“A grade level 17 director in the Edo civil service earns about N130, 000 while a Permanent Secretary takes home N450, 000.”
He said that labour wants the government to bridge the gap, stressing that Edo workers were, however, ready for dialogue.