Workers in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly on Thursday started a three-day warning strike.
The strike followed the alleged refusal of the state government to honour the agreement it reached with the workers’ union on the payment and implementation of a new consolidated salary structure.
The aggrieved workers blocked the assembly gates with plantain leaves and other objects, preventing visitors from gaining access to the assembly complex.
The workers also chanted protest songs in front of the assembly complex.
They condemned the government for paying lip service to the welfare of the workers despite the fact that the state was rich in oil.
The state Chairman of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, Mr. Kufre-Abasi Aderi, said the union decided to embark on the strike after the 21-day ultimatum the union gave the government expired.
The PASAN chairman said lawmakers in the state had refused to look into the demand and plight of the workers after a series of meetings between the union and the assembly.
He named some of the workers’ demands to include the payment of outfit allowance and the implementation of the new consolidated salary scheme.
Aderi also decried the poor and unhygienic working conditions at the assembly complex.
He said, “Consequent upon this, the entire staff of the state House of Assembly, after due consultation, unanimously declared a three-day warning strike.”
He stated that at the end of the three-day strike, if the government failed to yield to the request of the workers, the union would embark on an indefinite industrial action.
The AKHA Speaker, Sam Ikon, could not be reached for comments on some of the issues raised by the workers as calls made to his telephone line indicated that it had been switched off.
source: punch newspaper
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