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From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Organised labour in Kogi State has appealed to the Federal Government to treat its members as victims of natural disaster desperately in need of food and other materials.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which embarked on an indefinite strike, last Friday, over non-payment of their salaries said members are dying of hunger and starvation and also condemned alleged plan of the state government to casualise the civil service.
The unions said the condition in which workers found themselves, where they can no longer afford a meal per day and pay their children’s school fees, is the worst form of humanitarian crisis they can imagine.
They also advised the state government to stop harassing and intimidating workers as it will only aggravate the crisis.
In a press statement jointly signed by NLC Secretary, Olakunle Faniyi, his TUC counterpart, Kolawole James and the Joint Public Services Negotiating Council, Isa Abubakar, the unions appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct federal humanitarian agencies to send food and relief materials to workers in the state.
They also noted that the conditions under which members live is no different from those of victims of of natural disaster.
“The agony workers of Kogi state are passing through is not in any way less than the experiences of victims of natural disaster; we are dying daily, of common ailments, which could be treated, but, we can no longer even afford a meal per day, how much more buy drugs.
“As it stands today some workers are owed as much as 21 months salary arrears, some 18 months, others 11 months. We, therefore, call on the state government to treat us with dignity because not even in the era of slave trade were slaves forced to work on empty stomach.”
