by crossriverwatch admin
Disagreement between junior staff and the management of the Obudu Ranch Resort over 15% end of year bonuses for workers at the Resort have led to industrial action by the junior staff leading to effective shut down of activities at the Resort.
Mr Tony Bassey, the Director of Cross River Tourism Development Board told CrossRiverWatch that the strike started when the junior workers demanded for bonuses of 2011 for which they have signed an Agreement with the Management to wave since the Resort did not make profit that year.
“But when the state government released some funds for the payment of arrears of bonuses for three years in 2013, the junior workers insisted on being paid the 2011 bonuses”.
According to Mr Bassey, the Management of the Resort believed that since an Agreement had been signed between the two parties to wave the 2011 bonuses, the management decided to stretch the payment to cover 2012, 2013, and 2014 since the workers had agreed to wave off the 2011 bonuses.
“The issue was very clear, since they (junior staff) had agreed to wave off the 2011 bonuses, the management felt they would abide by the terms of the Agreement but they suddenly changed and insisted that they have to be paid for 2011 since the state government had released money for three years”.
Mr Bassey attributed the second issue that sent the workers on strike to communication gap between the management and junior staff. “The junior staff saw the annual 15% bonuses as an increase in their basic salary which is clearly not the case, but an annual incentive for the workers since the Resort is beginning to make profits”.
He said the strike, which has lasted for some days, has been suspended as the issues that brought about the suspension of work by the junior workers have largely been resolved.
“On Friday this week, we have scheduled a meeting in Calabar to be attended by representatives of the junior staff, NLC, Special Assistant to the Governor on Labour, and the Director of the State Tourism Development Board, for us to have a round table discussion and fully address the issues and sign an agreement”.
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