Organised labour had on October 3 commenced an indefinite strike over the owing of civil servants seven months’ salaries, primary school teachers and local government workers 11 months and retirees 13 months’ pension allowance.
The labour leaders had noted that workers would not suspend the strike until the payment of five months’ salaries.
But in a response, Governor Samuel Ortom, during a radio programme, said his administration could only pay one month’s arrears across the board.
The state assembly, during its extraordinary session on Friday, however, appealed to labour leaders not to insist on five months’ arrears payment before suspending the strike, noting that their stand would push the government to borrow about N40bn.
The Speaker of the state assembly, Terkimbir Ikyangir, who made the appeal, told the labour leaders that the implication of borrowing money to pay workers would be counterproductive if the cause of the state’s “huge wage bill” was not tackled.
Ikyangir said, “Insisting on four or five months’ (salary arrears) payment before suspending the ongoing strike will amount to government taking loans of about N40bn. But let me appeal to the labour leaders to allow government tackle headlong the source of the huge wage bill..
“Part of the move is the ongoing screening exercise, which I think will help us find a lasting solution to the problem.”
Earlier, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Godwin Anya, stated that the union was worried about the huge wage bill and explained that it had also commissioned a committee to come up with the state’s exact wage bill.
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greediness is d problem of dose dat call demself say na house of Assembly members,if I may ask how is works salary to dat of d house members way una dey collect steady, una better change before God changer for una God help d poor
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