Ondo workers begin strike on Wednesday
Olaoluwa Folalu
Ondo State Civil Servants have decided to proceed on strike over non-payment of their salaries and allowances on Wednesday.
The workers, who were being owed three to four months salaries and areas, said they would down tools by Wednesday if Governor Olusegun Mimiko refused to pay them all outstanding and deductions from their salaries.
The workers’ decision was made public through the State Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JNC), Comrade Sunday Adeleye on Monday in Akure, the state capital.
According to Comrade Adeleye, the indefinite strike became imperative after the workers had last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to the state government to without further delay commence the payment of their salary.
“We have been meeting with the representatives of the state government since last week after issuing a statement of a seven-day ultimatum and it was all deadlocked.
“But if by Tuesday the state government failed to yield to our demand, the Union will have no other option than to call a congress by Wednesday and a total strike action will be declared indefinite”, he said.
The union had earlier gave the state government seven-day notice, which had expired now.
Then, the statement issued at the end of Joint Negotiating Council reads: ”The Unions in the Public Service of Ondo State under the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) rose from its meeting held on Monday, 13th July, 2015 where exhaustive deliberations on the welfare of workers in the Public Service of the State were discussed.
“The meeting noted with sincerity, the efforts that Ondo State Government is making at ensuring that salaries are paid to workers even at the face of the economic depression in the country.
“The meeting, however, aggravates the untold hardship of the delay in the payment of salaries to workers and observed that, life is no longer bearable and pride of being Civil Servants has become a thing of the past.
“Your Excellency, it is quite imperative to inform you that, deductions for March, April and full salaries for May and June, 2015 are yet to be paid.
“Your Excellency, it is disheartening to note that Cooperative Societies for workers have died prematurely due to non-release of workers deductions to the societies and these are areas where workers live up to, during the time of need.
“The feelings of the entire workers are full of hopelessness, disenchantment, frustration and economic enslavement of highest order since they could no longer meet their social and family responsibilities.
“The meeting therefore resolved to appeal to the State Government to pay up all the outstanding salaries and deduction without further delay; within a stipulated period of seven days from the receipt of this letter.
“Failure, the leaders of the Unions in the Public Service of the State may not be able to guaranty an industrial peace in the state”.
