Unpaid salaries: NLC to launch strike, protests in Imo Nov 1

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced that it will begin street protests and industrial action on November 1st, 2023 in Owerri, the capital of the state of Imo, to force home its grievances over the alleged nonpayment of salary.

In order to accomplish this goal, it has initiated a widespread mobilization of its members across all of its affiliate unions.

At a press briefing in Abuja, the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, made this announcement. He said that Labour is profoundly worried about the recurrent and egregious breaches of the rights and privileges of workers in the state by the government of Imo State.

He expressed his regret that the Imo State Government has developed into a habitual and serial violator of the commitments it has made, despite the numerous efforts that have been made to engage in constructive discourse and come to acceptable terms.

According to Ajaero, the fact that the state government has persisted in trampling on the rights of workers has left the union with no alternative but to engage in mass protests and industrial action to voice their indignation over the ongoing violation of the rights and privileges of workers in the state. These actions are being taken to demonstrate the union’s fury over the ongoing violation of the rights and privileges of workers in the state.

“It (the state government) has allowed itself to be misled into believing that the continued use of threats and intimidations would perpetually dissuade Nigerian workers from taking their destinies into their own hands. This is a mistaken belief.”

” On this point, we want to issue a warning to the government of Imo state that we would hold the Governor accountable if anything were to happen to any worker or trade union leader during the course of these lawful demonstrations.

“We have taken note of all the threats of violence against our persons that we have received, but we will not be dissuaded by them.” “On November 1st, we will begin this march in order to save the workers of Imo state from the terrible harm that the government has been putting them through over the course of the last few years,” Ajaero said.

The leadership of the NLC detailed some of the claimed transgressions committed by the government of the Imo State, one of which was a refusal to implement previously agreed upon contracts.

He asserted that the administration had broken the promises it had made on multiple occasions, most notably the pact that had been established between the government and organized labor on January 9th, 2021.

According to Ajaero, some employees have been mislabeled as “ghost workers” despite the fact that they have been exposed to an astounding 20 months of unpaid salaries due to a backlog of outstanding salary arrears.

The National Labor Committee (NLC) lamented the incident and stated that roughly 11,000 industrious persons had been wrongfully labeled as “ghost workers” and had their salaries diverted even though they had been performing their tasks in a meticulous manner.

In addition to this, he accused the state administration of vandalizing the NLC State Secretariat, which he described as an overt assault on the rights of workers as well as a violation of the integrity of their representative body.

An frightening assault on the right to represent and speak for the rights of workers is being carried out by the government in its ongoing witch hunt against the leaders of trade unions, which is being carried out under a variety of guises.

It is unacceptable to continue using thugs and other forms of violence against workers and their leaders; doing so undermines the democratic rights that workers are entitled to. The impounding and illegal diversion of union dues, which are monies that should legally belong to the unions, is a grave breach of the rights of workers to control their collective resources. The funds in question belong to the unions.

“Approximately 10,000 pensioners have been incorrectly labeled as ghosts, which has resulted in over 22 months of unpaid pensions, which has tragically led to the loss of lives.” According to what Ajaero said, “the entire workforce is continuously subjected to threats of violence and sacking, which creates an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.”