By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Nigeria Labor Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Cross River State on Wednesday picketed the state Ministry of Local Government Affairs and the Office of the Head of Service.
This followed the non-payment of eight months` salaries of local government workers and primary school teachers in the state.
John Ushie, Chairman of NLC in the state, told journalists at the Ministry of Finance in Calabar that the picketing became necessary because they had exhausted all avenues, including dialogue and signing of Memorandum of Understanding between labor and the government.
According to Mr. Ushie, if the picketing fails to yield the desired result, labor will embark on total strike to press for workers` demands.
He said the state had engaged the service of a consultant who carried out personnel audit and tagged some civil servants as ‘ghost workers.’ He expressed regret that the development had resulted in the stoppage of their salaries.
“As I speak, there are local government workers and primary school teachers who have not received salaries since June 2016.
“We discovered that a lot of our colleagues are dying while some are becoming bed-ridden and many of them can no longer take care of their responsibilities as parents because they no longer receive salaries.
“How can you tag someone who is qualified and has been working for close to 20 years as a ghost worker when he is present at work every day?
“The consultant is the major cause of our problem and he must leave. We are not against any form of audit but they should bring a firm that can do the job creditably.
“If nothing is done after this exercise, we shall review our stand and go on total strike because an injury to one is an injury to all,” he said.
Mr. Ushie maintained that labor was not against personnel audit, but insisted that the job of the consultant must end at screening.
He said the consultant should not be involved in the payment of salaries of civil servants in the state.
Clarkson Otu, the TUC Chairman, said that it was quite disheartening for a worker who is dedicated to his job not to be paid for eight months.
Efforts to reach the Commissioners for Local Government Affairs and the HoS, John Ulafo and Ekpeyong Henshaw respectively were not successful.
The duo neither took their calls nor replied the text messages sent to their cell phones.
(NAN)
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One commentOn Labor Protest Non-Payment Of 8 Months Teachers, LG Workers Salaries In Cross River
Are you kidding me that local government workers and primary school teachers in the state have not been paid for eight (8) months? How do you expect these people to go to work? And if they did, how do you expect them to be productive?
Did I not read last month that Cross River State government prepaid December 2016 salary? Why not pay ALL workers their deserved salaries on time? Given that the government is the biggest employer of workers in the state, how do they expect the economy to flourish when consumers (mostly government workers) are not paid for almost a year??? You do not have to be an economist to know that it will have inimical effect on the economy and productivity!
The CRSHA should pass and the governor sign into law that will require the order of payment of workers in the state to start from those in the lowest grade level and progress to the higher grade levels. So, the governor will be the last person to be paid assuming that he is on the highest grade level.
No civilised government will not pay her workers and expect them to come to work and be productive!!!
Do something NOW!!!
The poor workers have bills to pay, most especially young ones to FEED!!!
No wonder the economy is floundering. There is zero purchasing power due to non-payment of salaries!!!