Workers in Ogun State have today, embarked on a seven-day warning strike in protest of the state’s failure to implement the new minimum wage.
Chairman of the State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Emmanuel Bankole, announced the decision to journalists after a closed-door meeting between the leadership of organised labour and government officials.
The meeting followed a 14-day ultimatum handed by the workers to the government which expires tomorrow.
Prior to the meeting, workers had stormed the governor’s office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta to protest the failure of the government to implement the new minimum wage as well as pension reform bill among others.
According to Bankole, some of the demands included the abolition of the pension reform bill, payment of gratuities, payment of an outstanding six years leave allowances, three years promotion and 134 months unpaid pension.
Bankole said, “Unfortunately the negotiation ended in a deadlock. And so the one-week warning strike will commence 12 midnight tomorrow (Wednesday).
“With the facts before us, Ogun state is not the poorest in South-West. So, we are saying no, all their excuses are unacceptable to us.
“The position of the government is unacceptable to us. What they said was that minimum wage will have to be delayed so that they can do certain things and we said no, enough is enough.”
Reacting, the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Public Affairs, Remmy Hazzan, expressed shock over the warning strike.
Hazzan admitted that the organised labour has legitimate demands, but the financial status of the state makes it incapable to implement the minimum wage.
He, however, said the government would continue to engage the workers in order to resolve the issue to avoid plunging the state into industrial disharmony.
