According to PUNCH Newspaper, the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Ekiti State has declared an indefinite strike against Governor Ayodele Fayose, beginning from Friday, for alleged negligence of workers welfare and unpaid salary arrears.
The workers are aggrieved that despite their goodwill to the administration, the state government had failed to honour an agreement signed recently at the Joint Account Allocation Committee of September 4.
The umbrella body of local government workers in Ekiti also warned the state government against fresh recruitment when it had yet to clear various arrears owed workers.
Rising from an emergency meeting held on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, the union directed all workers to embark on a strike from Friday until all contentious issues including social security, payment to Federal Inland Revenue Service and the amount for Net distributable were addressed.
It warned that it would not hesitate to deal with any member who disobeyed the directive.
In a communiqué signed by the state’s President, Olubunmi Ajimoko, and the Secretary, Suleiman Alero, NULGE expressed concerns that while scores of people were daily retiring from both the local government and teaching services, salaries had remained static with pensions increasing drastically monthly.
The communiqué read, “Against the background of this government neglecting our earlier advice on the timeliness of fresh recruitment into the services of both the local government and the teaching sector, we again wish to stress that additional burden should not be put on JAAC until our various arrears are cleared. The case of those termed “Hurriedly employed” in 2003 should serve as a lesson to all who remember history.
“In view of the insensitivity of this present administration, even at the point of winding down, when we feel that corrections of past errors should be made, it has become painfully obvious that no concrete agreement can be respected by this administration.
“The union is, therefore, calling on all its members in the 16 local governments, the related commission, Boards and Departments to proceed on an indefinite strike from Friday.
“We humbly wish to stress that this position will only be reviewed when we see a physical evidence of the political will to alleviate our members’ predicament.”
The union had earlier shelved a proposed strike in August after a meeting with representatives of the state government.
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