Public workers embark on industrial action in Cross River state

Public workers of Cross River state embarked on an indefinite strike action on Tuesday over alleged anti-worker policies by the Prof. Ben Ayade-led government.

The strike action was announced by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, as well as the Trade Union Congress (TUC), in Cross River State due to the government’s failure to implement their appeals, leaving them with no option.

According to the workers, letters of warning were sent to the state government which were all ignored.

Both union said the strike is indefinite until their demands are met as the current administration will end soon. They had also tried to dialogue with the government but were ignored.

The unions listed their demands to include; the non-implementation of workers promotion since 2016, nonpayment of gratuities to retired workers since 2014, failure to re-absolve 33 workers, whose names were wrongly deleted from payroll, refusal to move compilation of payroll from auditors to accountants, and failure to implement yearly step increment for workers.

The strike action has paralysed the judiciary and other public institutions. The gates of the state judiciary headquarters on Mary Slessor Avenue in Calabar were shut while lawyers, judges and litigants could not enter the complex.

Public schools were also shut and students asked to return home while the old and new secretariats were also locked. Labour leaders were also seen enforcing and monitoring compliance.

Commenting on the strike action, Professor Ben Ayade said that “Labour couldn’t have called out its members to down their tools and cripple activities of the state government without any court order to do so.”

“Most of the items in their list had already been met, except gratuity. Labour gave us three days warning on Thursday, so we asked them to sit down but they refused, saying that they won’t sit down for anything and they walked out. We have not yet exhausted all avenues.”