The Dilemma Of Ebonyi, Enugu Striking Workers

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), appears to have taken on the toga of a lame duck, as the governments of Ebonyi and Enugu States withhold? September salaries of their workers who embarked on industrial action to force their respective governments to fully implement the new minimum wage law, writes MIKE UBANI.

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The recent strike action embarked upon by civil and public servants in some states of the South East to force their respective governments to fully implement the new minimum wage law, is beginning to have a ripple effect on the workers. In Ebonyi State, Governor Martin Elechi, had last week ordered that Thomas Eze, state chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), be dismissed from office for flouting the governor’s directive on “no-work-no pay”.
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A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Dr. Onyekachi Eni, said that on October 1, the state governor pleaded with the workers to go back to work following the acceptance of his administration to pay the N18.000 minimum wage.? Eni argues that the payment of salaries to both civil and public servants is based on “performance and attendance to work”.? He regretted that the dismissed board chairman paid workers who did not come to work during the period of the industrial action in September contrary to the directive of the state government.? He said further that it was the policy of the state government not to pay September salaries to workers who did not work during the industrial action.
Eni told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, that the state government has no intention to recover the salaries paid to workers serving under SUBEB, since it was not their fault, but that of the dismissed chairman.
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Also in Enugu State, civil? and public servants are yet to receive their September salaries.? And there is no indication that they would ever be paid for that month. They incurred the wrath of the state governor, Sullivan Chime, for going on strike that month to press home their demand for the “full implementation” of the minimum wage law.
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In a recent media interaction with journalists in Enugu, Governor Chime foreclosed the possibility of paying the workers their September salaries.? “No responsible government will pay you for work not done…No responsible government anywhere in the world will do that” said the governor in reaction to a question on why the civil and public servants in the state were yet to receive their September salaries.
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The governor continued:? “In Enugu State, the labour leaders and their workers called for strike for no reason; they were alleging non-payment of minimum wage and we paid minimum wage, not minding that they were even on strike at the time.
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“We used the skeletal services we had at the time and made sure we paid on the 25th of the month, as usual. It’s on record that throughout the South East, and I make bold to say, apart from a few who had been paying that before, maybe throughout the country, Enugu State was the only state that paid minimum wage, as agreed in August; we are not talking for August; we paid for August in August.
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“We did not just stop there; we also agreed with labour that we will have up to October to pay the arrears; but because of what you may call windfall, we felt we had enough to pay the arrears and we felt there was no need waiting for October to pay the arrears. We paid all the arrears in August.
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“What we got in return was for the national leadership of NLC, TUC and whatever names they answer, to come here and take our workers for a ride. Meanwhile, these people come from states that have not paid the minimum wage and they all came here and the workers were hailing them.
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“So, the workers went on strike for no reason. Thank God they have seen reason to go back. They wasted September; the earnings we ought to have made in September, we did not make; so we had no money to pay them. You don’t work and you get paid; so no sentiments about it and we made it clear before they embarked on the strike; so it did not come to them as a surprise”.
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In the opinion of the governor, labour in the state had no reason to call out workers on strike, since according to him; he had implemented the provisions of the minimum wage act. “The minimum wage act is straightforward… You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand it. It’s a very short law, you go and read it, and we have implemented what the law says”, said Governor Chime.
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Before now the least paid worker in Enugu state, earned N8.500.? But following the emergence of a new law on minimum wage, the least paid worker in the state, now receives N18, 500, which is over 100% increase.? The workers are demanding the same 100% increase across board. The workers in Ebonyi are making similar demand.??? “We cannot afford it and no state can, not even the Federal Government. So, the minimum wage Act has fully been complied with.? I am a lawyer. I can’t do anything that is illegal, I can assure you”, said Governor Chime.
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There would definitely have been no cause for alarm if both governors of Ebonyi and Enugu states had sheathed their respective swords as soon as the striking workers resumed work in the two states following the intervention of the national leadership of the organised labour;? leaders of the Christian community and civil societies.
The actions of the two governors bring to the fore, the right of workers operating within the ambit of organised labour in Nigeria, to embark on strike to force government or their employers to meet their specific demands and still expect to be paid their wages and salaries while the strike action lasted.
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In his doctoral thesis on the “Status to the Right to Strike in Nigeria:? A Perspective from International and Comparative Law”, Mr. O. V. C. Okere, says:? “the right to strike is a keystone to modern industrial society…no society who lacks that right can be democratic… any society which seeks to become democratic, must secure this right.”
Arguing that workers throughout the world are alike in the sense that they desire recognition, satisfaction, fair wages and salaries, job security redress of wrong doings and good working conditions, Okere says that unions (representing workers) are obliged to call out their members on strike when there is a sharp disagreement between them and their employers over issues such as enhanced salaries and wages.
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“The right to strike is a crucial weapon in the armoury of organised labour…The right is as a result of several years of struggle by the working class.? The right to strikes has now been accepted as an indispensable component of a democratic society, and a fundamental human right…Take away the right to strike, and workers and their trade unions, will be lame ducks”, argues Okere.
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However, Okere regrets that the existence of vast arrays of legal constraints in Nigeria, renders the workers right to embark on industrial action “nugatory and fictitious”. He argues that the government of Nigeria uses the judiciary to infringe on the workers right to strike under international law.
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This perhaps explains why Governor Chime dragged the organised labour in Enugu before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.? He asked the court to order the workers to resume work; insisting that he has already implemented the provisions of the national minimum wage law.
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At its last sitting, the court gave the Enugu state government and the organized labour 28 days to resolve their differences.? The deadline expires this week.
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The national leadership of the NLC appears uncomfortable with the developments in Ebonyi and Enugu states, In a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, NLC Abdulwaheed Omar, said the congress would prevail on governor Elechi to re-instate the sacked chairman of SUBEB.? “What Eze has done is a sacrifice, and we will not forsake him”, promised the NLC boss.
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