After the state’s refusal to pay the backlog of unpaid salaries and pension arrears in the state, the Abia State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress has started an indefinite strike.
Tuesday’s union rally in Umuahia, the state capital, resulted in the announcement of the strike.
Chris Onyeka, the state’s assistant general secretary of the union, who was in charge of organizing the workers’ protest, claimed that the action was a result of the state government’s refusal to follow Joe Ajero’s order, the national president of the NLC, to pay the arrears in salaries owed to the workers in Abia.
He stated that the NLC’s national leadership, led by Ajero, is concerned about the welfare of workers and will not sit by helplessly as the governor Okezie Ikpeazu-led government works to ensure the welfare of its constituents in the state.
“Our national president wrote to the Abia state administration on the necessity of paying Abia workers their arrears of salary, but the state government did not act on the letter,” he claimed.
“The state administration was given a 14-day deadline to resolve the issues relating to the payment of salaries owing to Abia workers, and the deadline ended on Monday, February 28, 2023. As a result, the indefinite strike was called to emphasize our demand.”
“Our union offered the state government a 14-day deadline to address the issues relating to the payment of salaries owing to Abia workers, but that deadline expired on Monday, thus the Abia workers are now on an indefinite strike to urge their demand,” said the union.
“The Abia administration is using worker intimidation instead of sitting down with us to discuss how to fix the issues, but no amount of intimidation will stop us from going on an indefinite strike,”
