National leaders of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have said organized labour and its allies will from Monday, January, 27, shut Abia State over several unresolved issues, including non-implementation of the N30,000 national minimum wage, five years after it was signed into law by President Muhammad Buhari.

NLC is also angry over no less than six months’ salary and pension arrears owed core civil servants and over 30 months’ salary and pension arrears to other public workers in the state.

President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, said that “every mobilization for the commencement of the action has been done. In fact, if not that we do not want anything that disrupts this weekend’s elections, we would started the industrial action earlier.

”We have given the directive for Monday. We are all going to be on the ground. We are going to dance in the state. There is no going back. We have given the government enough time to address our grievances to no avail," he stated.

At the inaugural meeting of the newly elected National Administrative Council, NAC, of NLC, led by Ajaero, on February 20, 2023, at the Pascal Bafyau Labour House, Abuja, leaders of NAC in a communiqué, recalled:

“Furtherance to the decision of the National Executive Council, NEC, to take all lawfully necessary actions to compel Abia State government to pay the over six months salary arrears/allowances of workers and unpaid pension benefits, NAC resolved to direct all the affiliate unions to commence mobilisation for the action in Abia State at the end of the 14-day ultimatum given to the government which ends on Friday, February 24, 2023.”

It will be recalled that on February 13, NLC wrote to the state government issuing a 14-day ultimatum to resolve pending industrial issues or face unrest.

The February 13, 2023,letter was a follow-up of earlier letters by NLC, dated November 1, 2022, and December 23, 2022, on the persistent failure of Abia State government to offset arrears of workers’ salaries and pensioners’ retirement benefits and also stop alleged victimisation of workers and trade unions in Abia State.

Alleged sins of govt

Among some of the grievances of NLC against Abia government, besides the infraction of non-implementation of N30,000 national minimum wage since 2019, are unpaid pensions between August and December 2014 (five months), unpaid pensions between January and April 2015 (four months), unpaid pension between January and December 2018 (12 months), unpaid pension between January and November 2019 (11 months), unpaid pension between February and December 2022 (four months), arrears of unpaid gratuity between 2001and 2022 (21years), non-implementation of harmonized percentage increases in pension benefits and non-implementation of minimum pension.

Organized Labour is also quarrelling with three months’ unpaid salary arrears to local government employees, 23 months’ unpaid salary arrears to staff of Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, 11 months of unpaid salary arrears to the Health Management Board, HMB, 11 months unpaid salary arrears of secondary school teachers, three months unpaid salary arrears of primary school teachers,

Others include 30 months unpaid pension benefits of pensioners in Abia State judiciary sector, 30 months unpaid salary arrears of workers in Abia State Polytechnic, 29 months unpaid salary arrears of workers in Abia State College of Education, five months unpaid salary arrears to workers in Abia State College of Health Sciences and the approved CONHESS is yet to be implemented in Abia State since May 2021 till date.

Labour also noted that the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, withdrew the accreditation of Abia State Polytechnic.

The NLC ultimatum added that, “If these industrial infractions against workers are not addressed and redressed in the next 14 days, we will have no option than to mobilise workers all over Nigeria to stage the mother of all protest in Abia State.’ (Vanguard)

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