Treat Kogi workers as refugees in dire need – Labour

Posted by Factnews | 7 years ago | 1,821 times



The organised labour in Kogi State has appealed to the Federal Government to urgently treat its workers as victims of natural disaster who are in dire need of food and other materials, saying its members are daily dying of hunger and starvation due to the non-payment of their salaries.

The workers had, last Friday, declared an indefinite strike over the non-payment of salaries and the perceived plan of the state government to embark on the casualisation in the civil service.

In a press statement jointly signed by secretaries of Nigeria Labour Congress, Olakunle Faniyi, Trade Union Congress, Kolawole James and Joint public services Negotiating council, Isa Abubakar, the labour said “a situation where workers could no longer afford even a meal per day and pay school fees of their children is worst than humanitarian issues.”

The labour, therefore, appealed to President Muhammad Buhari to direct humanitarian agencies of government to send food and relief materials to the dying workers in the state.

The statement reads in part: “The agony the workers of Kogi State are passing through are not in any way less than the experiences of victims of natural disaster, we are dying daily of common ailments which could be treated, but we can no longer even afford a meal per day, how much more a drug.

“As it stands today some workers are owed as much as 21 months salaries, some 18 months, others 11 months, we therefore call on the state government to  treat us with dignity because not even in the era of slave trade that slaves are forced to work on empty stomach”

The statement also advised the state government to stop the current harassment and intimidation of  workers as it will only aggravate the crisis on ground.

 

 


Source: Sun

Readers Comments

comment(s)

No comments yet. Be the first to post comment.


You may also like...