8th October, 2018
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Anambra has called on Gov. Willie Obiano to use part of the last tranche of Paris Club refund to settle the backlog of gratuities owed retired primary school teachers and local government workers.
Mr Jerry Nnubia, the NLC Chairman in the state, made the call at a news conference on the occasion marking “World Day for Decent Work (WDDW)” in Awka on Monday.
Nnubia said the theme for this year’s WDDW was “Change the Rules” with a view to highlight the deeply entrenched injustice of the global economic system, shrinking democratic rights and deteriorating labour rights in many countries.
He said that labour in Anambra had observed with dismay the continued deduction from workers’ salaries for contributory pensions without remitting same since 2014 when the law was passed in the state.
He noted that there were no actionable plan by the Anambra Government to ensure the success of the scheme and called for its scrapping.
“Congress demands that part of the last Paris Club refund to the state and local government be utilised to settle the backlog of gratuities owed pensioners who retired from local government service commission and primary schools teachers.
“We therefore, wish to use this platform to reiterate our earlier demand that the Contribution Pension Scheme in Anambra be scrapped forthwith and all deductions made so far from workers’ salaries should be refunded,” he said.
Nnubia also said that Anambra was demanding a unified salary scale for workers and local government services as two salary scale in one state was not acceptable to them.
He said that the salaries of workers in these categories should be made to be at par with those of their contemporaries in the health sector.
He called on the Federal Government and all employers of labour in the country to ensure decent income and workplace security for workers and social protection for their families.