Ekiti labour rejects pay cut

Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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Following the continuous lockdown and its effects on the people and their economy,  organised labour in Ekiti State has told Governor Kayode Fayemi not to contemplate any move on salary reduction.

The labour unions, comprising Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, also requested immediate payment of outstanding salaries by Governor Fayemi, to ease the effect of lockdown on the populace.

Governor Fayemi, had earlier announced the slashing of salaries of himself, Deputy, Bisi Egbeyemi and political appointees by 50 percent.

They spoke at a press conference jointly addressed by the Chairmen of NLC, Com. Kolapo Olatunde and his counterpart in TUC, Com Sola Adigun in Ado Ekiti prior to Friday’s Workers’ Day.

In his address, the NLC boss  asserted that the menace of COVID-19 has affected every worker, saying, “this time remained the most appropriate opportunity to assuage their sufferings’ by paying their salaries promptly as well as palliatives.

“We are still being owed three months salary arrears, outstanding leave bonuses, backlog of promotion arrears, while the minimum wage was yet to be implemented across board.

“The national president of the NLC gave me a matching order to tell our governor that the salaries of our workers can’t take them home and there shouldn’t be any reason for government to think of pay cut in Ekiti”.

Olatunde appreciated the government and health workers in Ekiti for working hard to reduce the number of victims of COVID-19 to eight.

The TUC Chairman, Com Adigun, said what the workers are collecting in Nigeria was never a living wage, expressing optimism that they will breathe a sigh of relief someday.

“We thank the governor and members of his cabinet for sacrificing part of their living wage to fight the menace of COVID-19.

Adigun advised the government to deploy more energy to promote the welfare of the people and devise ways to defeat COVID-19 pandemic, Boko Haram insurgents, kidnapping, corruption and all manners of criminalities.

The TUC boss advised the Ekiti Government to encourage farming among civil servants, in the spirit of diversification, to halt sole dependence on Federal allocation.