By Archibong Jeremiah
In what may be attempting to silence voice of decent, the management of M. Saleh and company limited, EPZ Calabar, Cross River State has sacked four staff for their role in a recent protest for increment of salary.
The protest which took place at EPZ premises, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 had staff from different department (welding, mechanical, electrical, painting, fiber, machine, and fabrication) in the company registering their demand for pay rise.
The protest was staged after management of the over fifty year’s old company failed to increase their salary as promised. The workers of the company after receiving January salary on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 realized that, their cry had fallen on deaf ears.
The next day being Wednesday, February 3, 2021 the workers who felt cheated staged a peaceful protest, where their demands were noted again. This time, five representatives; Ubong Umana, Edet AKpakpan, Ogar Lawrence, Godwin (other name yet to be verified) and Bassey Ekpe were invited for a closed door meeting with the management on Monday, February 8, 2021.
At the meeting, CrossRiverWatch reliably gathered that, the management had agreed to increase their pay, come ending of February 2021. To the surprise of the over 60 angry workers that protested for pay rise, Thursday, February 11, 2021, four supposed masterminds of the protest were sacked.
Among those sacked; Ubong Umana – welding, Edet Akpakpan – turner machine operator, Stanley (other name yet to be verified) – store keeper, Aniebiet (other name yet to be verified) – store keeper.
Ubong and Edet are part of the five man team that met with the management while the other two connections to the protest other than participation, are yet to be established. According to inside sources, the sacked supposed masterminds were unceremoniously sacked.
As at press time, the company with branches in Abuja, Lagos, Cross River, Rivers and Kano States which is managed by Nabil Ahmed Saleh, President, Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA) has been contacted for comment and is yet to respond.
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