As the indefinite strike action declared by the organised labour unions in Ogun State entered day 1, labour leaders in the state on Tuesday vowed never to dialogue with any government functionaries except the state governor himself, Prince Dapo Abiodun, over their agitation on the unremitted N82 billion contributory pension deductions.
Labour leaders premised their resolve on the ground that past meetings with government officials had never yielded desired results other than “unkept promises,” and hence, they are not ready to be deceived again.
At a press conference addressed on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the state capital, the trio of the state chairmen and President of the NLC, TUC and the JNC emphatically stated that only “a fruitful meeting” with Governor Abiodun remained the panacea out of the logjam, failure of which the strike goes ahead as planned.
The labour leaders claimed that past meetings held with other government officials had not provided them with any respite, as the issue under dispute is crucial to their survival and well-being as workers of the state government.
Organised labour in the state had on Monday, through a document jointly signed by the leaderships of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), called on their members to proceed on indefinite strike over failure of the state government to remit their N82 billion contributory pension deductions to their respective Pension Administrators.
The decision to embark on an industrial action was said to have been reached after the statewide congress held on Monday, where the workers voted for the indefinite suspension of their services.
Speaking during the press briefing, the state Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Hameed Ademola-Benco, who was flanked by his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Comrade Akeem Lasisi and representative of the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), stated that no amount of threat or intimidation could make them call off the strike except there is a concrete agreement with the governor of the state on the way forward.
In his address yesterday, Ademola-Benco said, “Yes, we have been receiving calls from one government official, but I told my colleagues that we are not going to meet that person. He is our major problem.”
“We want to meet only the governor, His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun; he is our employer”.
“We are not employees of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG); we are not employees of the Head of Service (HoS) or the Chief of Staff (CoS) to the governor or any commissioner; no! We are employees of Governor Abiodun: he is the one paying our salaries every month, and he is the one we want to sit with on this matter, not any other person”.
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