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By Doris Obinna
Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), yesterday, commenced industrial action to press home their demands for improved working conditions.
It would be the second time the union would down tools, having embarked on a seven-day warning strike in April 2021 to demand payment of promotion arrears for 2018 and 2019 promotions owed members.
Vice chairman of the union, Idzi Isua, told Daily Sun that the workers were unhappy with the failure to resolve issues bordering on their remuneration by management.
“Abuja workers have joined the strike. As I speak to you now, we also commenced the strike yesterday. If you could remember, last year we embarked on a strike, half of the hazard allowance and balance were paid. So those issues are still pending and yet to be addressed which explains why we are embarking on this strike.”
He, however, said separate meetings have been held between workers and the management of the agency to resolve contending issues.
Director, Public Affairs of NAFDAC, Abubakar Jimoh said a meeting of all top management staff of the agency was called to resolve the issues.
“In a nutshell, the management is looking into what the union’s agitations were. The initial attempt was to hold a meeting with them so as to resolve the issues, but that meeting would not hold because we needed a top official from the ministry of health to be involved.
“Most of their agitations in-terms of welfare package, which is the general broad headline, does not fall within the limit of NAFDAC alone, we need a top level intervention to sit down together with the union and resolve some of these issues. The Director General, Dr. Moji Adeyeye, is very sympathetic to the yearning of the staff and working assiduously to address them,” he said.
