Minimum wage strike: Oyo govt opens registers for workers •Civil servants ignore order, stay away from work •Govt planning to send thugs after us - Labour leaders
TRUE to its threat, the Oyo State government, on Wednesday, opened attendance registers in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the state to enable it to collate the names of workers who failed to report for duty.The state government, on Tuesday threatened to sanction workers who refused to report at their duty posts and enforce the ‘no work no pay’ rule.
But in an apparent disregard for the warning by government, workers stayed away from work. The government secretariat wore a ghost look from morning till the close of work on Wednesday.
A very a few number of workers who ignored the directive from the labour unions and showed up at the secretariat were beaten and chased away by spies from the unions, who sneaked into the secretariat to monitor the level of compliance.
Meanwhile, the state Local Government Service Commission has also directed the directors of personnel management (DPMs) to open registers in their respective councils and ensure workers clock in and out every day.
A release signed by the chairman of the commission, Chief Lasisi Ayankojo, said members of the commission would be going round to monitor compliance with the directive, while assuring workers of their safety at their duty posts.
In a reaction, the chairman of the state Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, Nurudeen Arowolo, chided the decision of the government, saying it was a panicky measure to cow workers into submission.
He said it was sad that a democratically elected government was threatening workers for embarking on a legitimate strike, stressing that the workers would not submit to government’s intimidation.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr Adedeji Adelabu, has described as completely untrue, the statement being circulated by labour unions that the state government received N11.8 billion allocation in February.
Mr Adelabu, who made the clarification during an interview in Splash FM, on Wednesday, said what the state got as allocation was N2.7 billion and asked anyone who doubted the figure to verify from the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja.
He said about N6 billion, representing monthly allocation, accrued to the state and all the 33 local governments in February, adding that it was regrettable that the labour unions, whose members should know better, were the ones cooking up figures from what was public knowledge.
The commissioner reiterated that the minimum wage table agreed with the labour would mop up 92 per cent of total revenue, since the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state could only cover 26 per cent of the total expenditure, adding that only N70 per person would be available to cater for the remaining 99 per cent of the state population after workers’ salaries were paid.
“When we came in last year, the least paid worker was receiving N9,400 per month. The governor felt this was too low and increased it to N13,000 minimum and now in February, it has gone up to N19,987. The implementation of the new wage was done across board for all the workers,” he said.
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