Strike: Stop embarking on frivolous propaganda that will yield no result – Labour tells Kogi Govt

The organised labour in Kogi State has called on the government of Kogi State to do the needful by setting up negotiating team to dialogue with labour rather than embarking on frivolous propaganda that will yield no result.

The secretaries of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Olakunle Faniyi, Trade Union Congress ,Comrade Kolawole James and their Joint Public Service Negotiating Council counterpart, Comrade Isah Abubakar in a statement issued to DAILY POST on Saturday expressed dismay that the Government and its agents have continued to push falsehood into the public domain ostensibly to misinform and deceive the people instead of addressing the issues that led to the strike.

They alleged that the Secretary to the Kogi State Government Mrs Folashade Arike in her circular to Ministries, Department and Agencies threatened to implement the no work no pay policy which she claimed was a provision of the Trade Dispute Act.

The unions pointed that the SSG failed to mention the act or law that empowers government to deny workers their salaries for 21 months.

According to labour, the SSG also said that the period of the strike would not be reckoned with in the computation of the years of services of striking workers.

On this, the union advised workers to ignore as the SSG and the current government would not govern the state till eternity.

The unions also frowned at the alleged fake stories the governor’s media office had been planting in some national dailies to give the impression that strike was shunned by workers.

“This is another waste of scarce resources by government that claimed not to have money, because no pages of sponsored advert or fake stories would translate into payment of salaries to workers who have been owned for so many months” the statement noted”.

The union called on traditional rulers to heed to the charge given to them by President Muhammadu Buhari to pressurise their Governors to pay their workers because they cannot turn their face the other way while thousands of their subjects are dying avoidable deaths.