Barely 24 hours after Osun state civil servants suspended their over seven weeks strike action, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in the state, has directed workers to resume the industrial action. State Chairman of the union, Jacob Adekomi, in a statement in Osogbo last night, said workers should not resume work as earlier directed.
Addressing newsmen on the development, Adekomi said the workers rejected the half salary the state government offered because it was in breach of the agreement reached by both parties. He also insisted the the workers were deceived to call off their strike action.
According to him, the NLC suspended the strike because it believed government would honour the agreement in the Memorandum of Understanding the two parties signed, detailing how they wanted their salaries to be paid.
“It was brought to our notice that workers on grade level 1-7 in secondary schools and the civil service got full payment of their January salaries, while the senior officers got half salaries. Also, primary and secondary schools’ pensioners were paid 50% of their pensions for January and November respectively.
Responding to the development, the Director of Publicity and Strategy of the the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said: “Government’s initial stand was to pay the two months arrears in full in agreement with the labour leaders before the strike was suspended, but there was a deficit where the money was sourced from, as government is yet to receive its own share of bailout from the Federal Government”.
Continuing, Oyatomi said: “In order not to dissatisfy the workers based on the agreement, the government thought that it is better to pay half and balance up later. I can assure you that the balance would be paid before the week runs out”.
The NLC boss however said it was agreed that workers would be paid salaries for the months of January and February 2015 for secondary schools’ teachers and those in the core civil service.
Reacting to the latest strike action, the state government, in a statement issued by the the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Governor’s Office, Semiu Okanlawon, said the attention of government has been drawn to the dissatisfaction of workers in the state because of the partial payment of salaries. The statement added that the governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola calls for the understanding of all workers in the state.
“The governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, wishes to appeal for peace and understanding from all workers in the state”.
The statement also added that the government wishes to state that it realized the need to accommodate senior citizens, the pensioners, within the limited funds available in order to ensure an all-inclusive payment that will alleviate the hardship that the delay in salaries and pensions had caused. “It should be noted that happiness never decreases when shared”.
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