No Going Back On Strike By Plateau Workers

The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Plateau says it will not call off its two-week old strike over the non-payment of the national minimum wage to workers.

The state government has, however, threatened to enforce the “no work, no pay” policy if the workers fail to resume work.

The NULGE President in the state, Samson Mafuyai, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that the government had not addressed the grievances of the workers as such the strike would continue.

He said the workers were agitating for full payment of the approved national minimum wage of N18,000 as against the N9,000 being paid to them since January.

The president dismissed the the threat by the government, saying it would have no effect on the strike.

Mafuyai acknowledged that the committee on collective bargaining set up by the government had stepped into the matter to broker peace.

He said the committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. John Gobak, had intervened and was trying to negotiate between labour and the Ministry of Local Governments.

Mafuyai said until a position was reached in the negotiation, the “no work no pay” threat by the government should not apply.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Paul Wai, has appealed to the workers to suspend the action to allow for proper negotiation.

Wai told newsmen that steps were being taken by government to address issues related to low income generation and staff welfare in all the local governments.

He alleged that the strike was fuelled by unfounded rumours that the government had been diverting local government funds to build a new Government House.

Wai said that apart from the statutory deductions, government did not tamper with the local government funds.

He also said allocations from the Federation Account had been on the downward trend from December 2011 to April 2012.