Workers in Enugu State have threatened to embark on an indefinite strike over the state government’s failure to pay their monthly entitlements.
The President of the Trade Union Congress, Enugu State chapter, and Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Mr. Chukwuma Igbokwe, disclosed this in Enugu on Wednesday.
The salary scale of the worker was reviewed during the administration of former governor Sullivan Chime after the workers demanded an increase.
The workers, however, noted that that the recent review only showed an increase in their basic salary, without an increase in the percentage of other allowances.
They said that even though the salary scale was reviewed, the Chime government did not implement it on the grounds that there were no provisions for the new pay formula in the 2014 budget.
Although the reviewed salary scale was eventually given space in the 2015 budget, Enugu workers are still being paid according to the old scale, which they claimed makes them the least paid workforce in the country.
The workers are now demanding the immediate implementation of the reviewed salary scale.
They maintained that they have been cheated for over five years as a result of the discrepancies in the old scale.
Our correspondent gathered that the implementation of the reviewed salary scale was part of a list of outstanding demands the workers presented to the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, at a meeting on July 28.
The workers insisted that Ugwuanyi must implement the new salary scale, more especially as he had repeatedly stated that his administration was going to consolidate on the achievement of the previous government.
Our correspondent gathered that a meeting held between the workers and the governor did not reach a truce as the governor was said to have asked the workers to give him some time.
However, the workers believe they have waited for too long, and are threatening an indefinite strike.
In an exclusive chat with our correspondent, the TUC president, Igbokwe, said the adjusted salary scale should be implemented since it was captured in the 2015 budget.
Igbokwe said, “If we wait and they still refuse to implement it, we will go on an indefinite strike. It is not as if we are asking for salary increment. We met with the present governor and we said government is a continuum and you are talking of total continuity so give us our entitlements
“We are saying that people have been denied their allowances for over five years, when the minimum wage scale was prepared the adjustment did not recognise the increase in some allowances.
“You don’t increase basic salary without increasing the percentage of the allowances. That is why we are saying the adjusted scale was not really an increase. It was even the government that corrected it and brought it to us and we agreed that it should implement it. The government agreed to pay and said it was the right thing. The government, however, said it was not in the budget then. Now that it is captured in the budget of 2015, the governor is saying that we should give him time.”
Igbokwe did not give any indication of how long the workers were prepared to wait before embarking on the strike.
The workers are also demanding the recall of 12 employees of the Enugu State Housing Corporation, who were disengaged by the former managing director of the corporation, Chief Ikeje Asogwa.
(Punch)
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